Childhood

Question 1

List some reasons for change in childrens position?

Answer 1

Laws

Compulsory school

Child rights

Smaller family size

Industrialisation

Question 2

List some things that argue childhood is not getting better. (Conflict view)

Answer 2

Inequalities between child and adults

Control kids space

Control kids time

Age patriarchy

Question 3

Who says ‘age patriarchy’

Answer 3

Gittens

Question 4

Wagg

Answer 4

Childhood is socially constructed

Question 5

Pilcher

Answer 5

• Most important feature of childhood is seperatedness

- golden age of childhood

Question 6

Malinowski

Answer 6

Adults of the Trobriand Islands took an attitude of tolerance and interest into childhoods sexual activities

Shows how childhood differs culturally

Question 7

When was compulsary schooling introduced

Answer 7

1880

Question 8

When was the childrens act

Answer 8

1989

Question 9

Punch

Answer 9

In Bolivia kids work at 5 years old.

Question 10

Globalisation of western childhood

Answer 10

Charities spread western childhood telling other cultures they’re wrong

Question 11

Aries

Answer 11

Childhood didn’t exist in the middle ages, looked at paintaings and saw no difference between kids and adults, called them mini adults as they wear same stuff.

Question 12

Shorter

Answer 12

High death rate meant it was common for kids to have the name of a dead sibling or just be called ‘it’ - parents were more neglectful of kids because of it

Question 13

Pollack

Answer 13

Better to say that childhood had a different notion, not that it didn’t exist.

Question 14

Postman

Answer 14

Childhood disappearing because of:

• lack of unsupervised game time
• same laws/crimes
• same clothes

Also says the childhood is come about and going due to the rise and fall of print culture which caused a hierarchy of information

Question 15

Information hierarchy

Answer 15

Adults could read and kids couldn’t, creating a hierarchy in the era of print culture.

TV now blurs this and makes kids understand everything too.

Question 16

Jenks

Answer 16

Childhood is changing due to postmodern society, as PM society causes instability, parents look to their kids for stability, as they will always be their child it is one of few fixed things.

Childhood is now a source of parents identity and stability rather than childhood being to prepare kids for society. Childhood however is still separate due to laws.

Question 17

Counter for Jenks

Answer 17

Jenks generalises, we don’t know this is changed for all family types, cultures and genders.

Question 18

Statistic for child centred family

Answer 18

1860, woman had 5.7 births on avg, in 2014 women had 1.8

Question 19

Aries and Shorter

Answer 19

Children are valued and protected

Question 20

Counter for MOP view

Answer 20

Sue palmer - toxic childhood

Question 21

Palmer

Answer 21

Toxic childhood - TV/media has meant kids have been damaged.

Question 22

Conflict view of childhood

Answer 22

says MoP ignores

• inequalities between kids (gender, ethnicity and class)
• Inequalities between kids and adults

Question 23

Forms of control

Answer 23

• neglect (childline has 20k calls a year)
• control space
• control time
• control bodies
• control access to resources

Question 24

Gittens

Answer 24

Age Patriachry - adults have power and kids have none.

Question 25

Hockey and James

Support Gittens idea of age patriarchy

Answer 25

Kids ‘act up’ by swearing etc to act like adults and reject childhood, kids also ‘act down’ by acting like babies to resist control.

They conclude childhood is something kids want to escape.

Question 26

Counter for Gittens Age Patriarchy

Answer 26

1989 children act gives kids power, not restrict them

Question 27

Mason and Tipper

New sociology of childhood

Answer 27

Kids define their own childhood, for example giving fictive kin the name ‘aunt’.