Childhood Flashcards
What is meant by childhood as a social construct?
Childhood is created and defined by society. The idea and meaning of childhood isn’t fixed instead it differs between different places, time and cultures
Pilcher (1995)
Golden Age of childhood
- Childhood is a clear, distinct life stage
- Time of happiness and innocence
- dress different to adults
- excluded from paid work and emphasise on happiness through leisure
Wagg (1992)
The idea that childhood is a separate age-status isn’t found in all societies and isn’t universal.
‘ Childhood is socially constructed’
‘ There is no singular universal childhood, experienced by all ‘
Benedict (1934)
Children in simpler, non-industrial societies are treated differently than their western counterparts.
- They take responsibility at a young age
~ Punch
~ Holmes - Less value placed on children showing obedience to adults
~ Firth - Children’s sexual behaviour is often viewed differently
~ Malinowski
Punch (2001)
Children in rural Bolivia had to work from the age of 5
Holmes (1974)
Found in a Samoan village that being too young wasn’t a reason to let a child not do something
Firth (1970)
Found in the Tikopia tribe, doing as your told is regarded as a request and not expected by the adult
Malinowski (1957)
Found among Trobriand Islanders that adults took an attitude of tolerance and amusement towards their child’s sexual activity
How is the western childhood being globalised?
International humanitarian and welfare agencies have exported and imposed western norms of what childhood should be on the rest of the would.
For example, campaigns against child labour
Aries (1960)
Childhood has changed over time
10th - 13th century :
childhood didn’t exist and children were seen as no different to adults once they had passed the stage of physical dependency.
13th century onwards - The Cult of Childhood
modern view of childhood started to emerge, schools starts to specialise in education for kids, church said kids were ‘creatures of God’
20th Century - The century of the Child
World is now obsessed with childhood
Shorter (1975)
There were higher infant mortality rates in the Middle Ages so parents didn’t form emotional attachments to their children which encouraged neglect
Pollock
criticises aries
she says childhood did exist in the Middle Ages but the notion of childhood was simply just different
Give 6 reasons to why childhood has changed
- Laws restricting child labour and excluding children from paid work
- Introduction of compulsory schooling (1880)- and raising the leaving age as it increases time of dependency
- Growth of the idea of children’s rights - UN convention on the rights of a child act (1989)
- defining family size and lower infant mortality rates
- Children’s development became a subject of medical knowledge
- Laws and policies that apply specifically to children - minimum age for sex and smoking
How has industrialisation led to a change in childhood?
Now higher standards of living and a better welfare system. This means lower infant mortality rates
Mause (1974)
’ The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awaken ‘
Reasons For a march of progress
- Smaller family sizes so parents can afford more
- Family is now more child-centred and are both emotionally and financially invested in their kids
- Array of services and professionals for children’s education, health etc
- Better healthcare and living standards means lower infant mortality rates
- society has become child-centred through media output and leisure activities specifically for children
On average, how much do parents spend on their children by the time they are 21?
£227,000
How many births per woman were their in 1860 compared to 2014?
1860- 5.7 births per woman
2014- 1.83
What was the infant mortality rate in 1900 compared to now?
1900- 154 per 100 live births
now - 4/1000
Palmer (2010)
Toxic childhood
children now eat too much junk food, play video games etc which have resulted in damaged physical, emotional and intellectual development
there’s now been an increase in :
- obesity
- self harm
- drug/alcohol abuse
2 Reasons why there hasn’t been a march of progress
- inequalities between children
- Inequalities between adults and children
How are there inequalities between children?
- Gender - Hillman, Bonke
- Ethnicity - Brannen, Bhatti
- Social class - Poor mothers likely to have low birth weight babies - linked to delayed intellectual and physical development
Hillman (1993)
Boys are more likely to be allowed to cross roads, use buses and go out after dark
Bonke (1999)
Girls do 5x more domestic labour than boys, especially in lone-parent families
Brannen (1994)
Asian parents were more likely than others to be strict towards daughters
Bhatti (1999)
Found izzat (family honour) could be a restriction on the behaviour of girls
Firestone and holt
The things that March of progress writer see care and protection are actually forms of oppression and control.
They believe that we need to set children free from adult control - Child liberationism
they say this control takes 5 forms :
1. neglect and abuse
2. control over the child’s space
3. control over child’s time
4. control over children’s bodies
5. Children’s access to resources
What statistics can you use when talking about neglect and abuse being a form of adult control?
- in 2013, 43,000 children were subject to a child protection plan
- Childline receives over 20,000 calls a year from children saying they are being physically and sexually abused
What statistics can you use when talking about adult’s control over a child’s space ?
In 1971, 86% of children walked to school alone
In 2010, this was 25%
Gittins (1998)
Age Patriarchy -
adults hold the power over children and control them
Humphreys and Thiara (2002)
1/4 of 200 women in their study left abusive relationships because they feared their child’s safety
Hockey and James (1993)
acting up - behaving older than they are
acting down - behaving younger then they are
Postman (1994)
Future of childhood is disappearing as the boundary between childhood and adulthood is becoming increasingly blurred :
- disappearance of childhood games
- children committing adult crimes
This is because there is a disappearance of information hierarchy through TV, Media
Opie (1993)
Criticises Postman
childhood isn’t disappearing and childhood games, songs and rhymes still exist
Jenks
Postmodern relationships are less stable which creates a sense of insecurity so relationships with children became more important. Adults became more protective and fearful over their children.
Mason and Tipper (2008)
Children create their own definitions of who family is
Smart et al (2001)
Study of divorce
found children were actively involved in trying to make situations better for everyone and weren’t just passive victims