Concepto

The epistemological framework for this research draws on a range of key ideas from within the sociology of childhood, post structuralism, post modernism and feminism, in order to give due importance to the knowledge gained from participants in the study. The framework takes a sociological approach, understanding children as social actors who are able to demonstrate agency by making their own decisions or resisting those of adults. It also integrates post structural approaches, which argue for the voices of the few and the marginalised to be heard, and post modern feminist insights, which explore the effects of multiple oppressions and the dynamics of power. It is acknowledged that each perspective has strengths and limitations. It is argued that an epistemological

framework which operates within or draws from these key paradigms is essential to the development of a research model which takes account of looked after young people‟s positioning as a marginalised group in society, as well as engaging with them in order to research their views on their sibling and peer relationships.

A sociological framework

Using the sociology of childhood as a framework for the research enabled a view of children to be constructed which moves beyond the popular view of them as

subordinate to and defined by adults. It allowed them to be seen instead as beings in their own right, with the ability and the right to comment on their lives and experiences. Many have by now argued for the consideration of children as more than simply adults- in-waiting (James and Prout 1997, John 2003, Walkerdine 2004), and accordingly the need to develop a model of research with children based on a sociological approach to children has been the subject of increasing discussion over the last fifteen years. Winter (2006) argues that the main body of recent research concerning the views of looked after children has been directed at their experiences as consumers of services such as education and health, and that greater attention in research should be paid to children‟s social relationships and cultures.

A sociological approach to research with children is therefore consistent with the theoretical imperatives stated in the research objectives for this study: to explore children‟s sibling and peer relationships from their own perspectives. It acknowledges that in certain situations, children‟s perspectives can yield more informative data than those of adults. They may even be “epistemologically privileged ... in that they are better placed than adults to produce „situated‟ knowledges that prioritize the importance of their everyday experiences” (Balen et al. 2006: 30). Researching young people‟s

perspectives on their sibling and peer relationships should enable greater understanding of their importance in the maintenance of well-being and identity, as well as the

of the oppressions which affect children‟s lives, many sociological approaches continue to focus on the division between child and adulthood. Mayall, for example, argues that

“generation is key for understanding childhood and children‟s lives” (2008: 109). Such a focus limits the usefulness of a purely sociological approach in understanding the lives of children who are further marginalised through being looked after.

Although a sociological approach has contributed much to an understanding of children as independent social actors (James et al. 1998, 2005, James and James 2004), it is

still in its infancy with regard to the awareness of the diversity which exists amongst children and childhoods. However there is now recognition that childhood can be affected by divisions of age, class, sexuality and ethnicity (Boocock and Scott 2005), poverty, disability and gender, and acknowledging these factors better informs our understanding of children‟s different social worlds. This is combined with the realisation that children themselves provide the best means of understanding their experiences (Boocock and Scott 2005, Corsaro 1997).

Post structural and post modern insights

Dominant discourses relating to young people‟s inferiority to adults, interrogated to an extent through critical studies of childhood, can be further challenged through post structuralism. Post structuralism has been responsible for rejecting overarching explanations, (such as the idea that all children develop in ways which are universally applicable), which, in reinforcing specific and powerful discourses, have served to marginalise particular groups (Goodley et al. 2004). This is of direct relevance to

researching the lives of looked after young people, who encounter multiple oppressions by virtue of their status not just as children in general, but also as looked after children.

Post structural approaches not only reject predominant, universal explanations, they also seek to emphasise everything which such explanations failed to address; every aspect of life which has become marginalised (Sarup 1993). Where structuralism

offered singularity of meaning and explanation, post structuralism allows for the possibility of multiple, diverse meanings. Similarly, post modern researchers do not consider there to be a single reality which can be known, rather they recognise that there are many perspectives, each with its individual reality (Alston and Bowles 2003). This allows for a privileging in theoretical terms of marginalised groups such as children, whose lives and experiences might otherwise have remained under-theorised.

Post structural approaches offer a means of identifying diverse voices in order to contribute to a theoretical discourse for looked after young people which is unique to their experiences of loss and change. They also facilitate analyses of the relationship between knowledge and power (Goodley et al. 2004). However, in using a post

structural approach to explore the individual stories of looked after young people, there is a risk of losing their collective voice and common experiences of loss and separation. There are, therefore, tensions in synthesising post structuralism, which offers multiple explanations, and the sociology of childhood, which considers childhood as the source of structured oppression of children, within a framework for research.

Post modern feminist insights

The framework for this research also draws on feminist epistemological insights, which have some similarities with post structural approaches. Feminist standpoint

epistemology has prioritised the voices of those who are less powerful (Devine and Heath 1999). This has echoes of a wider post structural approach, in “.. emphasise [ing]

the perspective of those whose lives are shaped and constrained (or marginalised) by

the dominant social order” (Goodley et al. 2004:102). Indeed, some feminist

researchers, in highlighting the unequal nature of power relationships, have seen post structuralism as being able to challenge prevailing ideas and the ways in which groups with less power are represented (Standing 1998). This is relevant to gaining an understanding of the lack of power encountered by looked after children.

There are parallels between post modern feminism and child focused sociological approaches, as both consider the position of marginalised groups, and are committed to redressing the adverse balance of power they experience. Feminist approaches to research have also challenged more dominant mainstream research ideas which have leaned towards the following of procedure and rules in order to achieve objective results, by suggesting that for research to be valuable it must move away from prescriptive approaches, towards more creative and imaginative approaches (Rennie 2000; Robinson 2000). However, there are limits to the establishment of parallels within women‟s and children‟s oppression (Scourfield 2003, Wyness 2006), which mean that post modern feminism cannot be representative of the multiple oppressions with which looked after children have to engage.