This work explores the difficult conceptual and public policy issues involved in child labour. The contributors demonstrate its prevalence in both industrial and developing countries, and its rapid growth under the twin pressures of poverty and the drive for cheaper production.

This volume explores the difficult conceptual and public policy issues involved in child labour. The contributors demonstrate the sheer prevalence of the commercial exploitation of child labour, its existence in both industrial and developing countries, and its rapid growth today under the twin pressures of mass poverty and the drive for cheaper production. They make a clear distinction between the socialisation of children through labour within the family and their economic exploitation for profit, and illustrate the transition between the two phenomena that is now rapidly under way. They analyse the role of adults with responsibility for children, and the specific form taken by paternal domination. At a time of growing awareness of the issue, they provide not only a moving portrait of the diversity, scale and intensity of children's exploitation, but the tools needed to understand its roots and what, given the political will, needs to be done.

Part 1 The economic and social context of child labour: introduction - a history of exploited children in Europe, Alessandro Stella
the economy and child labour - an overview, Claude Meillassoux
child labour and the export sector in the Indian carpet industry, Mohini Gulrajani
growing up in Ghana - deregulation and the employment of children, Martin Berlet
living and working conditions - child labour in the coal mines of Colombia, Beatriz S. Cespedes Sastre, Maria-Isabel Zarama V. Meyer
stigmatisation versus identity - child street workers in Mexico, Elvira Taracena, Maria-Luisa Tavera
public policy, society and child labour, Francis Gendreau
why is child labour tolerated? the case of Brazil, Lia Fukui
the social exclusion of children in circumstances of rapid economic growth -working children in Thailand, Chantana Banpasirichote
the public policy problem - child labour and the law in India, Usha Ramanathan
debates on poor children in Brazil - between marginalisation and premature labour, Rosilene Alvim. Part 2 The structure and dynamics of exploitation: introduction - child labour in the light of bonded labour, Michel Bonnet
paternal domination -the typical relationship conditioning the exploitation of children, Alain Morice
child employment in a capitalist labour market - the British case, Michael Lavalette
coffee beans and the seeds of labour - child labour on Guatemala plantations, Charles-Edouard de Suremain
th exploitation of apprentices in Togo, Yves Marguerat
apprenticeship in France - a parallel case in an industrialised society, Bernard Garet
family versus the logic of the market, Robert Cabanes
the demand for labour within the household - child labour in Togo, Marie-France lange
the household economy and commercial exploitation of children's work - the case of Kerala, Olga Nieuwenhuys
the disintegrating social fabric - child labour and socialisation in Senegal, Serigne Mor Mbaya, Abdou Salam Fall
"unexploited" labour - social transition in Madagascar, Bodo Ravoloomanga, Bernard Schlemmer
looking ahead - a general conclusion, Claude Meillassoux.