"The child labour market in Britain is exploitative and increasingly unregulated and work is an important part of the lives of millions of British children." "This book addresses three major themes, the first of which is the theoretical context of child labour research, which is explored in Part 1 with sociological writings on childhood, questioning the "new sociological" approach to child labour research before offering a theoretical explanation for the changing form of child labour in Britain.". "Part 2 looks at both the continuities and the changes associated with child labour in Britain over the past two hundred years, examining the types of jobs performed by children, and their conditions of employment at different periods of history and in different fields; the authors offer various explanations for the changing form and/or decline of child labour during the periods on which they focus.". "Finally, Part 3 considers contemporary issues, beginning with a review of the present state of knowledge about the extent and form of child labour in modern Britain and Northern Ireland and moving on to a comparative study of child labour in the USA." "This book will be of interest to those studying and working in the fields of sociology, modern history, labour history, social work, and child welfare."--BOOK JACKET.