A produção da infância no contexto do trabalho infantil

Abstract

The article aimed to analyze the childhood experience of children engaged in child labor within the capitalist mode of production, considering how this reality and its determinations influence them. Additionally, it seeks to discuss how psychology perceives children affected by labor. The relevance of this research lies in the fact that children involved in child labor have historically been neglected. Thus, understanding the challenges they face highlights the need to ensure social rights, assistance, and protection. The adopted methodology is bibliographic and documentary. We seek to analyze the data inspired by historical-dialectical materialism, adopting a critical perspective on the proposed phenomenon. It was identified that child labor constitutes one of the most severe forms of violation of children's fundamental rights, affecting the construction of childhood in its historical, social, and cultural dimensions. The childhood of the working class is not experienced through the lens of fragility and protection; rather, it is shaped for labor through institutionalization and moral education.Regarding psychology, we found that most studies address child labor in a broad and multidetermined manner, although some research still individualizes its causes and relies on moral education as a solution. Finally, the urgency of valuing childhood as a period of full rights is reaffirmed, ensuring freedom to play, learn, and develop holistically. However, from our perspective, this will only be possible within a form of sociability different from capitalism.