Families and Households: Childhood

Question 1

Define Social Construct

Answer 1

Something created and defined by society. Childhood is not fixed but differs between different times, places and cultures.

Question 2

Pilcher (1995)

Answer 2

In modern western society childhood is seen as a distinct period in ones life with children occupying a separate status from adults

Question 3

Punch (2003)

Answer 3

There are cross cultural differences in childhood. E.G In Bolivia, 5 year old children are expected to take work responsibilities in the home and in the community

Question 4

Firth (1970)

Answer 4

Studied cross cultural differences in Tikopia and found that doing as your are told by an adult is a choice that is left up to the child rather than a given right expected by an adult

Question 5

Define Globalisation

Answer 5

International humanitarian and welfare agencies have exported and imposed on the rest of the world Western norms of what childhood should be.

Question 6

Give 3 examples of Western Ideas of what childhood ought to be like for all children

Answer 6

A separate life stage
Innocent, dependent and vulnerable
No economic role and should not work

Question 7

Aries (1960)

Answer 7

During the middle ages childhood did not exist. Based on analysis of historical documents, paintings and diaries Aries found that children were expected to contribute to the household or the workplace and were regarded as miniature adults. We now live In a with seeing childhood as special reasons including schools and compulsory education

Question 8

Pollock

Answer 8

Disagreed with Aries because the sources were limited and highly selective and unrepresentative of medieval society. He had a subjective viewpoint

Question 9

Postman (1994)

Answer 9

Children in medieval times were treated like miniature adults. There was no privacy or individual identity and as most people were illiterate information was shared into the community through town speakers, poetry, gossip or song. There was no censorship meaning children were exposed to the same information as adults. The invention of the printing press informed individuals of their roles as adults and how children should be brought up.

Question 10

Give three reasons for the change in children’s social position

Answer 10

Laws restricting child labour
Laws and policies especially for children
Child protection and welfare legislation

Question 11

Define The March of Progress

Answer 11

Society has become more child-centred therefore children’s experiences of childhood have improved. They believe children today are more valued, better cared for, protected and educated, enjoy better healthy and have more rights than earlier generations.

Question 12

Palmer (2006)

Answer 12

Palmer labels children’s experience in the modern society as “toxic childhood”. The increase in drug abuse, attempted suicides and self harm in young people in the developed world are due to a decline in emotional and family stability. Many parents are too busy working so they rely on television and computers to occupy them instead.

Question 13

Define The Conflict View of Childhood

Answer 13

They dismiss The March of Progress as idealised and focus on the inequalities and risks that children face in the modern world. They believe that inequalities between children and adults are greater today than ever before a children face more control, oppression and dependency in modern society

Question 14

Hillman (1993)

Answer 14

Boys are more likely to have more freedom and encounter riskier experiences than girls

Question 15

Bonke (1999)

Answer 15

Girls are more likely to do more domestic labour than boys especially if they grow up in a single parent household

Question 16

Woodroffe (1993)

Answer 16

Children who come from families where parents are unskilled manual workers are four times more likely to suffer from hyperactivity and conduct disorders than children or professionals

Question 17

Howard (2001)

Answer 17

Children born into poorer families are more likely to die during infancy, suffer longstanding illnesses, fall behind at school and be placed on the child protection register

Question 18

Firestone (1979) and Holt (1974)

Answer 18

Challenge The March of Progress view arguing that childhood in modern society is characterised by oppression, control and dominance of children by adults. They argue that adult control over children can take extreme form of physical, sexual or emotional abuse

Question 19

Gittins (1998)

Answer 19

Age patriarchy exists (adult domination) for example, adults exercise control over children’s time, space and bodies. Adults make children economically dependent by preventing them from working such as through child labour laws.

Question 20

Postman (1994)

Answer 20

Postman argues that childhood is disappearing as suggested by the trend towards giving children the same rights as adults. Television blurs the distinction between childhood and adulthood by destroying the information hierarchy meaning both adults and children receive similar information.

Question 21

Jenks (1994)

Answer 21

Jenks does not believe childhood is disappearing although he acknowledges that it is changing. Due to instability, adults become more fearful for their children’s security and more preoccupied with protecting them from perceived dangers. Childhood is therefore a separate a separate status and the legal and other restrictions placed on what children can and cannot do defines them as different to adults

Question 22

What is Smart?

Answer 22

An approach that aims to include the actual perspective of children while they are living through childhood by involving them in research directly. Children are not just passive but actively involved in trying to make things better for everyone.

Question 23

Mason and Tipper

Answer 23

Children create their own definitions of who is family including people who are not proper blood (fictive kin)

Question 24

What is DLP?

Answer 24

This method of studying childhood highlights the lack of power children have in comparison to adults and is favoured by child liberationists who campaign for children’s rights and priorities