Contradictory Trends

Question 1

Give five examples of the rapid cultural and technological changes in the past 25 years that Palmer believes has damaged children’s emotional, intellectual, and physical development

Answer 1

• junk food
• computer games
• intensive marketing to children
• long hours worked by parents
• growing emphasis on testing in education

Question 2

What did the UNICEF survey of 2007 rank the UK for children’s well being?

Answer 2

21st out of 25

Question 3

What do concerns reveal about anxiety regarding young people’s behaviour?

Answer 3

• anxiety about the modern notion of childhood as an innocent and protected stage which may be under threat

Question 4

Why is it difficult to draw firm conclusions about childhood?

Answer 4

• because not all children are affected equally by these negative trends

Question 5

What do many theorists argue about childhood?

Answer 5

• that childhood as a distinctive age period is disappearing (or at least getting shorter)

Question 6

What does other evidence point toward?

Answer 6

• the continuation of childhood as a separate age status

Question 7

What is causing the age phase of childhood to be reshaped and reformed?

Answer 7

• it is occurring as a consequence of key patterns and trends in society which impact childhood