Childhood - Has The Position of Children Changed?

Question 1

What are the 2 views of whether children’s position has improved?

Answer 1

1) . The ‘march of progress’ view.

2) . The conflict view.

Question 2

What does the differences in history and the future of childhood suggest about the improvement of childhood?

Answer 2

Whether these represent an improvement or not.

Question 3

What doe the ‘march of progress’ believe about the position of childhood?

Answer 3

That it has been steadily improving - better than it ever has been =

• however, this paints a dark picture of the past.

Question 4

Name the ‘march of progress’ sociologists?

Answer 4

• Aries.

- Shorter.

Question 5

What does the ‘march of progress’ view consist of?

Answer 5

1. ‘Child-centred’ family.

2. Toxic childhood.

Question 6

What is the ‘child-centred’ family?

Answer 6

1). Higher living standards and smaller families =

parents are financially better off - by their 21st birthday, a child costs their parents over £227,000.

2). More babies survive =

1900 = 154 (IMR), now = 4.

3) . No longer ‘seen and not heard’.
4) . Children are protected from harm and exploitation against child abuse and child labour.

Question 7

Who discusses the ‘toxic childhood’?

Answer 7

Palmer (2006).

Question 8

Does the ‘toxic childhood’ view oppose the ‘march of progress’ view?

Answer 8

Yes.

Question 9

What is meant by ‘toxic childhood’?

Answer 9

• Rapid technological and cultural changes are damaging children’s development in the past 25 years.

Question 10

What is are examples of ‘toxic childhood’?

Answer 10

• Junk food.
• Video games.
• Testing in education.
• Long hours worked by parents.

Question 11

What is the result of children being exposed to this ‘toxic’ culture?

Answer 11

They are deprived of genuine childhood (e.g. traditional games, etc).

Question 12

What expresses the concerns about child’s health and well being?

Answer 12

UK Youth are at the top/near the top of =

• obesity
• self-harm
• drug and alcohol abuse
• violence
• teenage pregnancies.

Question 13

What did UNICEF (2013) rank the UK’s children’s well being?

Answer 13

21/ 25 in terms of countries.

Question 14

What an evaluation of the ‘toxic childhood’ view?

Answer 14

Not everyone is affected by this trend =

children in higher social classes are less affected (e.g. bedroom culture).

Question 15

Who are the conflict sociologists?

Answer 15

Marxists and feminists.

Question 16

How does the conflict view oppose the ‘march of progress’ view?

Answer 16

They argue that the ‘march of progress’ view gives an idealised image =

• they ignore the inequalities among children and between children and adults.

Question 17

What are the inequalities among children?

Answer 17

• Third World countries experience childhood differently, they have different opportunities.
• Gender differences.
• Ethnic differences.
• Class differences.

Question 18

What percentage of low birth-weight babies are from developing countries?

Answer 18

90%.

Question 19

Who shows gender differences among children?

Answer 19

1). Bonke (1999) =

girls do more domestic labour, especially in lone-parent families.

Question 20

Whose study show ethnic differences among children?

Answer 20

1). Brannen (1994) =

found Asian parents are more likely than others to be strict towards their daughters.

Question 21

What are the class differences among children?

Answer 21

1) . Poor children are more likely to;
- die in infancy,
- do badly at school,
- 4x more likely to suffer ADHD and experience conduct disorders
- be placed in protection.

Question 22

What is a limitation of these studies?

Answer 22

Still can’t speak of children in ‘general’ as they all experience life chances differently in different societies.

Question 23

What are the inequalities between children and adults?

Answer 23

1). Power =

but ‘march of progress’ say adults use it to pass laws to benefit and protect children.

Question 24

How does Firestone (2013) oppose the ‘march of progress’ view about the inequalities of power between adults and children?

Answer 24

Care and protection are new forms of oppression =

• e.g. banning children from work isn’t protecting them, but segregating the; making them subject to more adult control.

Question 25

What are the different forms of control adults have over children, according to child liberationists?

Answer 25

1) . Neglect and abuse.
2) . Over children’s space.
3) . Over children’s time.
4) . Over children’s bodies.
5) . Over children’s access to resources.

Question 26

What statistics prove adult control through neglect and abuse?

Answer 26

1) . In 2013 = 43,000 children were on child protection plans due to risk of harm (usually from parents).
2) . Childline = receives 20,000 calls per year about sexual and physical abuse.

Question 27

How do adults control children’s space?

Answer 27

1). Surveillance over children in public spaces (shopping centres) and signs on shops restricting access.

Question 28

What did Cunningham (2007) find about adult control over children’s space?

Answer 28

‘Home habitat’ (area at which children can roam freely) =

• shrunk 1/9 of the size in was 25 years ago.

Question 29

How does Katz (2004) show less adult control over children’s space in developing countries?

Answer 29

In Sudanese villages, children were allowed to roam freely in and out of the village.

Question 30

How do adults control children’s time?

Answer 30

They decide when they get up, go to school, eat, come home, etc.

• they also control when they are too old or too young for a responsibility/activity.

Question 31

How do adults control children’s bodies?

Answer 31

They control how they sit, walk, etc, and even get piercings.

• also decide who else can touch them, and control how they touch themselves (not to pick nose, or play with genitals).
• opposes Trobiand Islanders’ sexual freedom (showing social construct).

Question 32

How do adults control children’s access to resources?

Answer 32

• As children can’t work full time, they are dependent on parents.
• Pocket money based on ‘good behaviour’ restricts when they get it and what they can spend it on.

Question 33

How does Katz’s study on Sudanese children differ from the control adults have over children’s resources?

Answer 33

They worked from the age of 3-4, giving them greater access (showing social construct).

Question 34

How does Gittins (1998) describe ‘age patriarchy’?

Answer 34

Describes the inequalities between adults and children - like feminists use patriarchy.

• there is an age patriarchy of adult domination and child dependency.

Question 35

Who supports Gittins argument that patriarchy oppresses children as well as women?

Answer 35

Humphreys and Thiara (2002) =

• 200 women in their study left their abusive partner because they feared the safety of their children.

Question 36

What is meant by ‘resistance’, according to Hockey and James (1993)?

Answer 36

Children experience oppression because they;

• ‘Act up’ to resist the status of ‘child’ –> involves acting older (e.g. smoking, drinking, swearing, etc).
• ‘Acting down’ = acting younger to resist status.

Question 37

What do Hockey and James conclude?

Answer 37

Childhood is a status most children want to escape.

Question 38

What are the criticisms of the child liberationists view?

Answer 38

1) . Some adult control is justified = children can’t make rational decisions.
2) . Children aren’t powerless, the Act’s introduced give children legal rights to protection and consultation.

Question 39

How does the ‘new sociology of childhood’ view differ from the previous ones?

Answer 39

They view children as ‘active agents who create their own childhood’, instead of society shaping it for them (socially constructed).

• previous views see children from an adult perspective, that they are passive.

Question 40

What does Smart (2011) say the aim of the ‘new sociology of childhood’ is?

Answer 40

To include the views and experiences of children themselves while they are experiencing childhood.

Question 41

What did Mason and Tipper (2008) find about children creating their own ‘family’?

Answer 41

Children create their own family, whether they are actually kinship or not, these are people they regard as ‘close’.

Question 42

What does Smart et al.’s (2001) study showing about children being ‘active’?

Answer 42

Study of divorce =

• instead of being passive, children were actively involved in trying to make the situation better.

Question 43

How does the ‘new sociology of childhood’ approach explore multiple childhoods?

Answer 43

They seek the different experiences of childhood, from different children, who are still experiencing childhood.

Question 44

Which approach favours the ‘new sociology of childhood’?

Answer 44

Child liberationists =

• it draws attention to the fact that children often lack power in relation to adults.