Families and Households- Childhood Flashcards
Why is childhood a social construct?
The idea of how children are different from adults isn’t universal
What did Pilcher highlight?
The separateness of childhood from other life phases as children have different rights and duties, and are regulated and protected by special laws
How did Aries study children?
From paintings
How has society become more child-centred?
Families are having fewer children so more attention is devoted to each child and more money is spent on that individual child
What specific laws are children subjected to?
Ones that restrict their sexual behaviour, access to alcohol and tobacco, and the amount of paid work they can do
What is the Children Act 1989?
Allows children to be taken away from parents by the state, if it judges parents to be incapable or unsuitable
What is the age patriarchy that Gittens suggests?
Adults maintain authority over children by using enforced dependency through ‘protection’ from paid employment, legal controls over what children can and can’t do and (extreme cases) abuse and neglect
How can poverty affect children?
Suffer poor health, have a lack of basic necessities, lower achievement in schools, poorer life chances, higher incidences of neglect and abuse
How may ethnicity affect children?
May influence where a child lives
What did the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child give to children?
Allowed them to be recognised as having unique human rights
What is the Child Support Agency?
Gave children the legal right to be financially supported by their parents, also made courts have to ask child’s point of view in custody cases
How do advertisers recognise the financial power of children- ‘pester power’?
A product is advertised to children because advertisers know children will pester their parents to buy it
What does Jenks argue?
Children symbolised future potential and were the main concern of society so adults sacrificed their needs to protect and nurture children
What did Jenks believe about adult relationships?
They are now less dependable due to divorce becoming more common as adults prioritise their relationships with children instead of investing trust in relationships with friends and partners
How do adults see children through a lens of nostalgia?
Children represent a lot of things that society has lost over time which has led to increased protection and surveillance of children
