Childhood

Question 1

What is meant by childhood as a social construct?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Pilcher (1995)

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Wagg (1992)

Answer 3

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 ‘

Question 4

Benedict (1934)

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Punch (2001)

Answer 5

Children in rural Bolivia had to work from the age of 5

Question 6

Holmes (1974)

Answer 6

Found in a Samoan village that being too young wasn’t a reason to let a child not do something

Question 7

Firth (1970)

Answer 7

Found in the Tikopia tribe, doing as your told is regarded as a request and not expected by the adult

Question 8

Malinowski (1957)

Answer 8

Found among Trobriand Islanders that adults took an attitude of tolerance and amusement towards their child’s sexual activity

Question 9

How is the western childhood being globalised?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Aries (1960)

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Shorter (1975)

Answer 11

There were higher infant mortality rates in the Middle Ages so parents didn’t form emotional attachments to their children which encouraged neglect

Question 12

Pollock

Answer 12

criticises aries

she says childhood did exist in the Middle Ages but the notion of childhood was simply just different

Question 13

Give 6 reasons to why childhood has changed

Answer 13

1. Laws restricting child labour and excluding children from paid work
2. Introduction of compulsory schooling (1880)- and raising the leaving age as it increases time of dependency
3. Growth of the idea of children’s rights - UN convention on the rights of a child act (1989)
4. defining family size and lower infant mortality rates
5. Children’s development became a subject of medical knowledge
6. Laws and policies that apply specifically to children - minimum age for sex and smoking

Question 14

How has industrialisation led to a change in childhood?

Answer 14

Now higher standards of living and a better welfare system. This means lower infant mortality rates

Question 15

Mause (1974)

Answer 15

’ The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awaken ‘

Question 16

Reasons For a march of progress

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

On average, how much do parents spend on their children by the time they are 21?

Answer 17

£227,000

Question 18

How many births per woman were their in 1860 compared to 2014?

Answer 18

1860- 5.7 births per woman
2014- 1.83

Question 19

What was the infant mortality rate in 1900 compared to now?

Answer 19

1900- 154 per 100 live births

now - 4/1000

Question 20

Palmer (2010)

Answer 20

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

Question 21

2 Reasons why there hasn’t been a march of progress

Answer 21

1. inequalities between children
2. Inequalities between adults and children

Question 22

How are there inequalities between children?

Answer 22

• Gender - Hillman, Bonke
• Ethnicity - Brannen, Bhatti
• Social class - Poor mothers likely to have low birth weight babies - linked to delayed intellectual and physical development

Question 23

Hillman (1993)

Answer 23

Boys are more likely to be allowed to cross roads, use buses and go out after dark

Question 24

Bonke (1999)

Answer 24

Girls do 5x more domestic labour than boys, especially in lone-parent families

Question 25

Brannen (1994)

Answer 25

Asian parents were more likely than others to be strict towards daughters

Question 26

Bhatti (1999)

Answer 26

Found izzat (family honour) could be a restriction on the behaviour of girls

Question 27

Firestone and holt

Answer 27

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

Question 28

What statistics can you use when talking about neglect and abuse being a form of adult control?

Answer 28

• 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

Question 29

What statistics can you use when talking about adult’s control over a child’s space ?

Answer 29

In 1971, 86% of children walked to school alone
In 2010, this was 25%

Question 30

Gittins (1998)

Answer 30

Age Patriarchy -
adults hold the power over children and control them

Question 31

Humphreys and Thiara (2002)

Answer 31

1/4 of 200 women in their study left abusive relationships because they feared their child’s safety

Question 32

Hockey and James (1993)

Answer 32

acting up - behaving older than they are
acting down - behaving younger then they are

Question 33

Postman (1994)

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Opie (1993)

Answer 34

Criticises Postman

childhood isn’t disappearing and childhood games, songs and rhymes still exist

Question 35

Jenks

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

Mason and Tipper (2008)

Answer 36

Children create their own definitions of who family is

Question 37

Smart et al (2001)

Answer 37

Study of divorce
found children were actively involved in trying to make situations better for everyone and weren’t just passive victims