Family: Childhood Flashcards
Which thinkers believe in social construction of childhood?
Aries
Shorter
James and Prout
Mayall
Hey
Frosh
Aries
Extreme view - childhood is a social construct.
Middle Ages - idea of childhood did not exist, children weren’t seen as essentially different to adults.
Children were expected to work much earlier than now, law often didn’t distinguish between child and adult
Artwork from the period just depicted children as small adults
The idea childhood is a distinct phase of life to adulthood only took hold from 13th century onwards
Shorter
Parental attitudes to children in Middle ages was very different to now:
High infant mortality rate encouraged indifference and neglect, especially towards infants
Parents often didn’t name their newborn babies, referring to them as ‘it’, often children were given the name of a dead sibling
James and Prout
Emphasised the socially constructed nature of childhood.
Children being immature is biological fact, but the meanings society attaches to that makes childhood a separate area of study.
Children’s relationships with adults and other children are worthy of study: as children are not passive but active participants in creating childhood.
Mayall
argues that children should be studied because they take on both the expressive and instrumental role in families.
They may support their parents and often take care of younger siblings or older people
Can also happen if the parent is disabled
Hey
in a study of girls’ friendships, points out that girls can be supportive and sharing, but they also bitch at, fall out and exclude each other.
Frosh
Studied boys and how they constructed masculinity,
Found that being ‘manly’ prevented boys from discussing or managing emotions.
Thinkers that believe socity has become child-centred
Cunningham
Pilcher
Cunningham
Modern childhood is a protected and privileged time.
3 Major factors:
Childhood (up to 18) are the opposite of adulthood: innocent, vulnerable, dependent, in need of adult protection
Social world of adults and children are socially, physically, symbolically separated: adult and child only spaces
Childhood associated with certain rights: right to happiness, to be safe, healthy, to enjoy their childhood
Pilcher
British society has become child centred. Parents have fewer children as most survive to adulthood so parents invest more time and money in them
The most important feature of childhood is separateness - childhood is a separate life stage, status. Seen as special
EG laws regulating what children can and cannot do, differences in clothing, products (toys, food)
Pester power
Children now have more power to pester parents for consumer items. Children aged 7-11 are estimated to be worth 20 million pounds a year as consumers.
Pugh
Parents give in to pester power because they are ‘cash rich but time poor’.
They feel guilty about not spending time with their children so they spend money. Because they have to work
Evans and Chandler
Parents give into pester power bc peer pressure to keep up with other families
Which thinkers believe that modern childhood is damaging from a functionalist/New Right perspective?
Neil Postman
Palmer
Philips
Furedi
Jenks (2005)
Neil Postman
Childhood is disappearing ‘at a dazzling speed’, the distinction between adulthood and childhood is narrowing.
Society is primarily shaped by communications tech
Middle ages: most were illiterate - so little adult/child distinction
Printed word: many able to read for the first time - Created a division between those who could read (adults) and those that had not yet learned to read (children). Learning to read and write became childhood.
Contemporary technology like TV and internet mean children are more able to access the adult world - eg social media, 18+ films. So childhood as we know it is disappearing.
Evidence for Postman
Recent trend of giving children the same rights as adults - UN’s rights of the child
growing similarity of adult and child clothing
children committing adult crimes (murder, rape) - eg James Bulger
Internet and social media - parents and child are becoming more equal
The ‘Learner Voice’ in education – children more involved in their own education
1 in 10 boys have seen porn by the age of 10 on the internet
Palmer
Book Toxic Childhood: CHildren are being harmed by technological and social changes:
Increasing screen time
Hyper-competitive education system
Decline of outdoor play
Commercialisation of childhood
These changes to childhood are causing higher obesity levels, reduced attention spans and mental health problems.
There are 2 essential ingredients to helping children and fixing this dysfunction - love and play
Philips
Parenting has become too liberal - a return to the golden age is needed.
The media and peer groups have become more influential than parents.
Media (teen girl lagazines, pop music videos, TV, adverts, sex sells) oversexualise young girls
These trends mean that the period of childhood has been shortened – it is no longer a sacred and innocent period lasting up to 13 or 14 years.
This has caused an increase in suicide, eating disorders, self harm, depression and drug /alcohol abuse among children
Furedi
Paranoid Parenting: a ‘culture of fear’ surrounds modern parenting - parents perceive their children as vulnerable and perpetually at risk from several threats: strangers, traffic, toys, falling behind in their development
Parents overly obsess over every detail of their child’s development, risk assess every activity and protect from these risks through surveillance and control
Parents are reluctant to let their child go unsupervised for fear of them being abducted
scared to let them go on tripe which involve long journeys because of the fear of accidents
Furedi - causes of paranoid parenting
Media exaggeration of the extent of abductions, stranger danger
expert culture’ parents more expected to defer to the authority of experts. But the problem is many of the experts have contradictory and unclear parenting advice - makes parents more confused
Alienation of parentS: they have less power in politics and work, so they use their children to construct their identity, project their power and dreams onto
Consequences of paranoid parenting
Reduction in children’s opportunity to develop independently - not allowed freedom to take risks and make independent choices to grow to adulthood, so they remain children longer
Children become more afraid due to constant messages about how dangerous the world is. They become afraid of taking risks, vulnerable, anxious
Jenks
While there are increased concerns among parents about the impact of tech and the internet on children, this has not resulted in the disappearance of childhood
Rather, tech advancements have led to parents thinking children and childhood need to be more protected than ever.
