Autor*innen	Aladin El-Mafaalani Sebastian Kurtenbach Klaus Peter Strohmeier

Children – A Minority Without Protection

In an ageing society, children find themselves on the margins
Nominated for the NDR Non-Fiction Prize 2025
Nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2025

The ageing German society is creating two new minorities: children who are becoming a minority within the population and parents of minors who are becoming a minority among eligible voters.

The major social challenges - migration, poverty and digitalization - are fundamentally changing childhood. Children start attending educational institutions earlier in their lives and spend more time there every day. Institutions must therefore not only overcome the challenges of migration, digitalization and child poverty, but also increasingly substitute aspects of family life - instead of simply supplementing it. Yet they are not properly set up for this, as a large number of studies show.

What do these social imbalances mean for young people and therefore for the future of this country? And how can the needs of children and young people be taken into long-term consideration?

Sample Translations

English

Publisher: Kiepenheuer&Witsch
Release: 16.01.2025
ISBN: 978-3-462-00752-7
288 Pages
Authors: Aladin El-MafaalaniSebastian KurtenbachKlaus Peter Strohmeier

Awards

2025: Nominiert für: Deutscher Sachbuchpreis – Aladin El-Mafaalani, Sebastian Kurtenbach und Klaus Peter Strohmeier und »Kinder – Minderheit ohne Schutz«

Buchcover von Children – A Minority Without Protection: Aufwachsen in der alternden Gesellschaft — Aladin El-MafaalaniSebastian KurtenbachKlaus Peter StrohmeierChildren – A Minority Without Protection

Aladin El-Mafaalani

Aladin El-Mafaalani is one of Germany’s most prominent sociologists and public intellectuals. He holds the Chair for Sociology of Migration and Education at the Technical University of Dortmund. A former department head at a state Ministry, he possesses a rare blend of academic rigor and political experience. In 2023, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. His books have been translated into Chinese, Italian and Russian.

Sebastian Kurtenbach

Sebastian Kurtenbach is a professor of political science at Münster University of Applied Sciences. One of his main areas of research is urban development and neighbourhoods. His highly acclaimed book Kinder – Minderheit ohne Schutz ( Children. A Minority Without Protection ), published by KiWi, was nominated for the German Non-Fiction Prize in 2025.

Klaus Peter Strohmeier

Klaus Peter Strohmeier , geb. 1948 im Ruhrgebiet, war Professor für Soziologie mit Schwerpunkt Stadt, Region und Familie an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum.