Sociologically, childhood is a membership category. People who make up this group (i.e., "children") are faced with a deeply rooted imagery of them being outsiders to society which comes with unequal distributions of resources, rights, and obligations between age groups. The status of children might very well be considered to be one of a marginalized group.

Since approx. 30 years, studies on childhood seek to recover the imagery of children as social actors. Since then, Childhood Studies provided findings on these troubling conditions, e.g., children’s legal status, vulnerabilities, well-being, silencing, displacement and political regulations. In return, such research can be considered as troubling the imagery of childhood itself: Making the very social processes visible, which constitute generational inequalities.

The lecture series of international scholars report on issues that render childhood a troubling age group: these issues range from victimizations and generational dependencies to limited welfare services, gender socialization, and friendships among minor refugees.