Childhood Flashcards
What is the modern western notion of childhood as an explanation for the social construction of childhood?
-Pilcher: most important feature of childhood is ‘separateness’
-Childhood is a distinct life stage & children occupy a separate status- seen as physically and psychologically immature e.g laws
-Also illustrated through dress, products and services e.g toys, food, play areas
-See childhood as a ‘golden age’ as happiness and innocence
-So children seen as vulnerable and in need of protection from danger- ‘quarantined’
-Children’s lives lived as a sphere of family and education with protection from adults
What are cross-cultural differences as an explanation for the social construction of childhood?
-Benedict: childhood is simple and non-industrial societies they’re treated differently
-Take responsibility at an early age- Punch- in rural Bolivia take work responsibilities
-Less value is placed on showing obedience to adult authority- Firth- amongst Tikopia children aren’t expected to obey authority
-Children’s sexual behaviour is often viewed differently: BBC- ‘The man hired to have sex with children
-In non western cultures, there’s less division between adults and children
What are historical differences as an explanation for the social construction of childhood?
-Western childhood is a newer concept
-Phillippe Aries: ‘idea of childhood did not exist’ in the middle ages/ pre-industrial society
-Children were ‘mini adults’- take on adult responsibilities young
-Help in productive activities
-At 7/8, they were seen as criminally responsible
-Aries evidence is from art of the period- dressed and worked and played together with adults
-Shorter: agreed children weren’t seen as vulnerable and high death rate encouraged indifference- child named after dead siblings or parents forgot how many children they had
-Paintings from the Renaissance periods distinguish between children and adults
How does the modern cult of childhood explain the social construction of childhood?
-Aries: childhood gradually emerged from about the 13th century
-Schools began to specialise purely in education for childhood- church saw children as ‘creatures of God’
-In the 17th century- clothes became distinct
-18th- handbooks on childrearing
-19th- IMR started to dec with improvements in sanitisation and diet
-With inc MC affluence children became regarded as objects of love and devotion
-Led to modern culture of childhood- became obsessed with it
-20th- ‘the century of the child’
What are some reasons for changes in the position of childhood in the 19th and 20th century?
-Laws restricting child labour
-Compulsory schooling
-Child protection and welfare legislation
-Growth of child rights
How is the western construction of childhood being globalised?
-Become globalised through international humanitarian and welfare agencies, e.g, charities
-For example, concerns about child labour in developing countries reflect a Western view of how childhood ought to be
-Childhood isn’t disappearing but spreading
P- physical
I- intellectual
E- emotional
S- social
How is the western construction of childhood not being globalised but rather under threat?
-Palmer: Children experiencing ‘toxic childhood’ due to rapid technological and cultural changes e.g junk food, education so no longer vulnerable and protected in the west
-Concerns of children’s behaviour- UK near the top of the international league tables for obesity, self harm, drug and alcohol abuse- Margo and Dixon
-Unicef- 2007- 21st for children’s wellbeing
How is childhood disappearing?
Postman: ‘childhood is disappearing at dazzling speed’
E.g children are given the same rights as adults
Disappearance of traditional unsupervised games
Similarities in adults and child’s clothes
Children committing adult crimes- murder
Due to rise and fall of print media and it’s replacement of tv culture
Tv blurs distinction of child and adult by breaking information hierarchy of what is/isn’t accessible
Doesn’t require special skills to access it
Boundary between child and adult is broken
During middle ages most were illiterate and so no real difference of child and adult as both couldn’t read
19th- period of ignorance and innocence
Tv replaced innocence of childhood with worldliness and cynicism
Iona Opie- childhood isn’t disappearing- in children games, rhymes and songs there’s still strong evidence of the continued existence of a separate children’s culture
Found children do create their own independent culture and unsupervised games aren’t dying out
Postman overemphasises a single cause- tv
How is childhood changing?- Postmodernism
-Jenks- doesn’t agree it’s disappearing but is changing
-Agrees with Aries- childhood was a creation of modern society- concerned with ‘futurity’- childhood seen as prep for future
-For this to happen child needs to be nurtured by the child centred family and education system which imposed conformity
In postmodernism pace of change speeds up and relationships become unstable
-As romantic relationships become more unstable relationships with children become a refuge for adults
-As a result adults become more fearful for child’s security and even more important to protect them from perceived threats
-Leads to greater surveillance and regulation of child’s lives
-So childhood is not disappearing
-Evidence comes from small, unrepresentative studies
-Overgeneralises by assuming all children are in the same position
How has childhood improved with a March of progress view?
-March of progress
-Position of children in the west has been steadily improving and today better then it ever has been
-Aries and Shorter: children are more valued, better cared for, protected and educated, enjoy better health and have more rights than previous gens
-E.g harm and exploitation laws against child abuse
-Family has become child centred with parents investing a great deal in their children emotionally and financially
How has childhood improved with child centred families?
-Much smaller family sizes- 5-6 births in 1860 and in 2014 1-2 and this means the parents can afford to provide for children’s needs properly
-Children are no longer to be ‘seen and heard’ as in Victorian times- they are now a focal point and parents have high aspirations for their children
Society as a whole is now chils centered- media and leisure and activities
Through toxic childhoods, how has childhood not improved?
-Palmer: rapid technological and cultural changes in the last 25 years have damaged child’s physical, emotional and intellectual development
-E.g junk food, computer games and intensive marketing to children and growing emphasis on testing in schools
-Margo and Dixon: obesity, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse and young sexual activity are near or at the top for UK youth
-Unicef: 2013- ranked UK 16th/29 for children’s wellbeing
Through the conflict view, how has childhood not improved?
-Criticise March of progress view
-Inequalities among children in terms of the opportunities and risks- many remain unprotected
-Inequalities between children and adults- children explain control, oppression and dependency not greater care or protection
-1) Inequalities among children:
-Different nationalities and life chances- 90% of low weight babies are born in developing countries
-Feminists- Gender differences
Hillman: boys more likely to be allowed to go out after dark
-Ethnic differences- Brannen- found Asian parents are more likely to be strict to their daughters- 15/16
-Marxists- class differences- poverty linked to illnesses, overcrowding affected educational performance
-2) Inequalities between children and adults- children Liberationists see the need to free children from adult control e.g control over space, time, bodies, access to recourses
-Control over their lives is justified as they cannot make rational decisions
-1989 children act
Through the conflict view- age patriarchy, how has childhood not improved?
-Gittins: used term to describe Inequalities between adults and children where adults dominate children
-Humphreys and Thiara- 1/4 of 200 women left abusive partner as they feared for their children’s lives- supports Gittins view of oppression
-Hockey and James: support idea adults dominate and children aim to resist
-Children ‘act up’- act like adults- smoke drink, underage sex
-Children can also ‘act down’- revert to child like behaviour like baby talk
-Concluse most children from modern childhood want to escape
Control is justified as children can’t make rational decisions so must be safeguarded
What is the New sociology of childhood?
-Mayall: seeing childhood as a social contrsuct risks childhood being adultist
-Should see children as active agents who play a major part in creating their own childhood
-‘The present tense of childhood’
-Mason and Tipper: Children actively create ‘family’ from people around them- not blood related only
