Childhood Flashcards
Childhood is a
Social construct. It is different depending on time period, culture, and place.
Child hood is improving
Society is becoming more
Child centred. Families are now focusing on the well being and quality of childhood. For example, parenting books.
Parents are …
having less children in order to focus, and provide a good life for only one or two. Instead of having a poor life with 10 children.
Evaluation to families becoming child centred.
Edward shorter reinforces this view by comparing the infant mortality rate. When the infant mortality rate was high parents would have lots of babies in order to cope with the high loss. They wouldn’t get attached in order to not be devastated. This resulted in a poor childhood as the children were ignored. The fathers were also very distant.
Child centerd sociologist
Edward shorter
Evidence for child centeredness
Parenting books, smaller families.
Changes in the law improves childhood.
Society is beginning to recognise the need for child safety. Children are more protected than they were 100 years ago.
Jane pilcher argues
That this is shown through the change in laws.
The working childhood.
100 years a go children were sent out to work in order to provide for the family. Today they are sent to school to learn.
Law changes
The factory Act
Child protection and welfare act
Compulsory education act.
‘golden’
Childhood is seen as the golden age of happiness and innocence. Society is changing in order to protect this happiness and innocence.
Law evaluation.
Negative evaluation. In the pursuit of safety, children are now heavily controlled. Children used to be able to play with friends till dark but are now stuck in a play pen.
Jacques Donzelot
suggests that the law controls families in the name of improvement. But these restrictions are what could be holding families back. For example, the working age laws restrict children from working. Poor families suffer as a result as they have less income.
Child hood is worsening due to the sexualisation of children
In recent decades children have been sexualised through advertisers, retailers and the media.
Evidence for sexualisation
Beauty pagents. Children in TV shows and movies having sex.
Margo
points out that sex is a big indicator for the disappearance of childhood. The average age for first-time sex fell from 20-21 in the 1950s to 16 in the 1990s.
Child sexualisation evaluation
Positive evaluation. The gap between child and adult is in fact narrowing. Neil post man backs up this claim as he has observed that children are begining to act like adults. Through their clothes, music, and personalities.
Parental authority has decreased.
Children now hold power over adults. This causes the childhood to be negative as it does not provide a stable environment.
Lack of parental authroity is bad because…
A childs socialisation will be inadequate. Lack of effective sanctions.
Cunningham
Children have spending power over adults.
-Pocket money
Part-time work
This has created child consumers.
Evaluation of no parental authority
Sue palmers ‘toxic child hood’ study backs this up. The media feeds into pester powers.
