Childhood Flashcards
What is the biological definition of childhood?
A period of growth and development, up to the age of 18.
What is the sociological definition of childhood?
The concept of childhood is socially constructed:
- period of development and socialisation
- period of ‘safeguarding’
- happy time, full of memories, games and experiences.
What are some factors affecting childhood?
- social class
- health/disabilities
- family circumstances
- culture
- parental attitudes
What was childhood like in the pre-industrial period?
- farms
- time with family
- little access to those outside their community
- little access to education
- survival was low
- large families
- quantity, rather than quality
- little extra cash
- less attachment and love between parent and child
What was childhood like in the post-industrial period?
Lower Classes:
- very similar to pre-industrial
- farms to factories
Higher Classes:
- access to healthcare
- access to education
- centring attention on kids and their development
- extra cash
What is childhood like now?
- laws preventing work before 16
- not as much time spent with family
- wide access to all groups of people
- lots of access to education
- survival and healthcare high
- quality over quantity
- lots of material pressure
- attachment high, abuse also high
What does Pilcher (1995) say about childhood?
The most important feature of childhood is separateness; it is a clear and distinctive stage of life, where children occupy a separate status to adults.
What does Wagg (1992) say about childhood?
‘Childhood is socially constructed. It is what members of particular societies, at particular times, in particular places say it is.’
What did Aries (1960) argue about childhood?
Aries argued that in the Medieval period, childhood did not exist, as children did not have a different nature or needs from adults. He uses art and paintings as a basis for his ideas, as the images depict adults and children in the same clothing, doing the same chores. He argued that the concept of childhood started to emerge in the 1300s due to schools, changes in fashion and handbooks on childbearing. He argues that today we have a ‘cult of childhood’ and he describes the 20th century as the ‘century of the child’.
Why has childhood changed?
- laws restricting child labour
- compulsory schooling
- child protection laws
- declining family size and lower infant mortality rates
- healthcare and better knowledge of children’s development
- laws and policies specific to children
What does the March of Progress View (MoP) say about childhood?
They argue that childhood has been steadily improving in Western cultures. Both Aries and Shorter (1975) argue that today’s children are more valued, better cared for, protected, educated and have more rights.
What is a toxic childhood?
Palmer (2007) argues that children are experiencing a ‘toxic childhood’ because rapid technology and cultural changes in the past 25 years have damaged children’s PIES development.
Has childhood changed for the better?
(Conflict view)
Feminists and Marxists believe that the MoP view is based on a false and idealised image that ignores important qualities such as inequalities between children and inequalities between children and adults.
What are the inequalities between children?
(Conflict view)
- different nationalities; 90% of low birth weight babies are born in developing countries
- gender differences; Hullman (1993) says boys are more likely to be allowed to cross roads, use buses and go out in the dark unaccompanied
- ethnic differences; Brannen’s 1994 study found that Asian parents are more likely to be strict towards their daughters
- class inequalities; poor mothers are more likely to have low birth weight babies
What are the inequalities between children and adults?
(Conflict view)
- controls over children’s space
- controls over children’s time
- controls over children’s bodies
- controls over children’s access to resources
- neglect and abuse
What did Postman (1994) argue about childhood?
He argued that children now have the same rights as adults, and therefore do not have a separate ‘protected’ period of time. He claims this is due to the transition from newspapers to TV. In the middle ages, neither children nor adults could read, meaning information was freely discussed, so there was no division. After the emergence of print culture during the industrial period, adults could read and access newspapers, whereas children could not; this created a hierarchy where children were protected from certain information. However, television now allows children access to this protected information again, as no skills are required to access it; they are no longer protected from adult issues.
What is a criticism of Postman?
He massively over-emphasises one sole cause; TV.
Evaluation of Postman
Opie (1993) disagrees:
- strong evidence that a childhood still exists in games, rhymes and songs
- children can and do create their own independent culture
Globalisation:
If anything, we are imposing western notions of childhood worldwide; childhood is actually spreading
How has childhood changed?
- improved; due to legal changes and compulsory education, they have a protected period to develop
- declined; childhood is becoming more toxic as a result of the media and academic pressure
- disappeared; tv allows access to adult content, so childhood no longer exists
- changed; it isn’t gone, just adapted
What does Benedict (1934) argue about childhood?
He argued that children in simpler, non-industrial societies are generally treated differently:
- more responsibility at a younger age
- less value placed on children showing obedience to adult authority
- children’s sexual behaviour is viewed differently
What did Punch (2001) discover about children taking on more responsibilities at a younger age in non-industrial societies?
She found that from the age of 5, children in rural Bolivia take on work responsibilities.
What did Firth (1970) find about less value being placed on children showing obedience to adult authority in non-industrial societies?
He found that among the Tikopia of the Western Pacific, doing as you’re told by a grown-up is regarded as a concession granted by the child, not a right to be expected by the adult; children are treated as adults and do not have to respect their elders.
What did Malinowski (1957) find about children’s sexual behaviour being viewed differently in non-industrial societies?
He found that in the Trobriand Islands, adults took an attitude of ‘tolerance and amused interest’ towards children’s sexual explorations and activities; children having sexual relations was a ‘norm’ and a matter of bemusement for adults.
