Childhood Flashcards
What is the modern western notion of childhood?
- childhood is a special time of life and children are seen as physically and psychologically immature and not ready to run their own lives.
- Pilcher: childhood is a distinct life stage and children occupy a separate status from adults
- Childhood is seen as a golden age of joy and innocence but this means children are vulnerable and need to be protected from the outside world
- Wagg: childhood is a socia construct which isn’t natural and should be distinguished from biological immaturity
What are cross cultural differences in childhood?
- Benedict: children in non industrial societies are treated differently from their modern western counterparts in 3 ways:
1. They take responsibility at an early age
2. Less value is placed on children showing obedience to adults
3. Children’s sexual behaviour is viewed differently - Benedict says there’s less of a dividing line between the behaviour expected of adults and children which supports the idea that childhood is a social construct.
What is the globalisation of western childhood?
- Western notions of what childhood should be are being imposed on the rest of the world. These include
1. Childhood as a separate life stage
2. Childhood being based in the nuclear family and school
3. Parents having innocent, dependent and vulnerable children - for example, campaigns regarding concerns about street kids in developing countries reflect western views even though such activity may be the norm for the culture.
What are historical differences in childhood?
- Aries: in the Middle Ages, childhood didn’t exist and children would enter into wider society and paid work from an early age
x Pollock: rather than saying childhood didn’t exist, the Middle Ages simply had a different notion of childhood from that of today - works of art from the era depict children as dressing the same as adults, working and playing together
- Shorter: high death rates encouraged indifference and neglect such as referring to babies as ‘it’.
What is the modern cult of childhood?
- Aries: elements of the modern notion of childhood began to emerge from the 13th century onwards:
1. Schools became specialised in educating the young
2. Growing distinction between children and adults clothing
3. Handbooks on child rearing made available - Aries says these changes reflect the modern ‘cult of childhood’ where we have come from an era where childhood wasn’t seen as special to an era where society is obsessed with childhood.
Give reasons for changes in the position of children.
- laws restricting child labour
- the introduction of compulsory schooling
- child protection and welfare legislation
- the growth of the idea of children’s rights
- declining family size and lower infant mortality rates
- industrialisation
What are Postman’s views on the disappearance of childhood?
- childhood is disappearing quickly, with children becoming more similar to adults
- the cause first of the emergence and now of the disappearance of childhood lies in the rise and fall of print culture and it being replaced by Tv culture
x Opie conducted research into children’s unsupervised games, rhymes and songs and found strong evidence of the continued existence of a separate children’s culture
What is the information hierarchy?
- printed word creates an info hierarchy; a sharp division between adults who can read and children who can’t. This allowed adults to keep knowledge about adult matters secret from children.
- however, Tv destroyed the information hierarchy because it is accessible to both adults and children and it doesn’t require special skills to do so
- the boundary between adult and child is therefore broken down and the ignorance and innocence of childhood is replaced by knowledge and cynicism.
Why are Jenes’ ideas about childhood in postmodernity?
Jenks
- agrees with Aries that childhood was a creation of modern society and that it was seen as a preparation for one to become a productive adult
- disagrees with Postman’s ideas about the disappearance of childhood and says it’s just changing. In modern society adult relationships were more stable but in postmodern society they are unstable, creating insecurity and making the adult prioritise the relationship with their child as a refuge from the uncertainties of life. This makes them over protective of their children.
x Jenks is guilty of over-generalising and assuming all children are in the same position
What is the march of progress view on whether the position of children has improved?
- the position of children in western societies has been steadily improving
- Aries & Shooter are 2 MOP sociologists who say that children today are better valued, cared for, protected and educated.
- higher living standards and smaller family sizes mean that parents can afford to provide for children’s needs properly.
- the family and society have become more child centred. Parents invest emotionally and financially in their children and have high aspirations for them.
What is toxic childhood?
Palmer: Rapid technological and cultural changes have damaged children’s physical, emotions and intellectual development, leading to children in the UK experiencing toxic childhood
How do conflict sociologists criticise march of progress sociologists?
They say the MOP view is based on a false and idealised image which ignores two inequalities:
1. Inequalities among children
- children of different nationalities have different experiences
- gender differences: Bonke says girls do 5x more housework than boys
- ethnic differences: Brannen says Asian parents are most likely to be strict towards their daughters
- class differences eg children in poor families more likely to die earlier
- Inequalities between children and adults
- Firestone and Holt say the things MOP sociologists see as protection are actually forms of control. For example exclusion from paid work segregated children and makes them more dependent, powerless and subject to adult control.
What are the five forms of adult control over children?
- Neglect and abuse
- Control over children’s space
- Control over children’s time
- Control over children’s bodies
- Control over children’s access to resources
What is age patriarchy?
Gittins: a term used to describe inequalities between adults and children. There is an age patriarchy of adult domination and child dependency.
Explain the child liberationist view
Evidence that children may experience childhood as oppressive comes from the strategies they use to resist child status, according to Hockey and James:
1. Acting up; doing what children aren’t hooded to do and acting like adults
2. Acting down; acting in ways expected by younger children
x some adult control over children is justified on the grounds that children can’t make rational decisions and are unable to safeguard their interests.
