Family - Children and Childhood - 2.4 Flashcards
Childhood as Social Construction
> Varies historically & culturally defined by society
Modern Ideas of Childhood
> Distinct life stage with a right to happiness, opposite to adults e.g. diff laws, dress, product & services
> Vulnerable need adults to provide & protect from outside world
> Period of socialisation in family & education, excluded from paid work
Childhood as a Social Construct (KS)
> Wagg (Separate Age Status)
> Punch (Cross-Cultural Differences)
Firth (Cross-Cultural Differences)
Malinowski (Cross-Cultural Differences)
> Aries (Historical Differences in Childhood)
Shorter (Parental Attitudes to Kids in Middle Ages)
> Postman (Disappearance of Childhood)
Jenks (Childhood in Postmodernity)
Wagg (Separate Age Status)
> Not universal & should be distinguished from biological immaturity
Punch (Cross-Cultural Differences)
At age of 5 children take work roles in home & society without question or hesitation (Bolivia)
Firth (Cross-Cultural Differences)
> Listening to adults is the choice of the child not the expectation (Tikopia)
Malinowski (Cross-Cultural Differences)
> Adults were tolerant and amused by children’s sexual explorations (Trobriand islanders)
Globalisation of Western Childhood
> Trying to impose western notions of childhood - including less economically developed countries
> e.g. Campaigns against child labour has no impact on children’s position in less economically developed countries - this prepares children for adult life.
Aries (Historical Differences in Childhood)
> Childhood is a relatively recent invention. It was non-existent in Middle Ages e.g. artwork shows children as ‘mini-adults with equal roles
> Work began from early age, no distinction in law, faced equal punishments as adults
> But now obsessed with childhood e.g. 1900’s is the century of the child
Shorter (Parental Attitudes to children in the Middle Ages)
> Increased death rate of children meant there was a lot of neglect.
Parents gave newborns their recently dead sibling’s name.
People forgot the number of children that they had.
Aries & Historical Differences in School, Church, Clothing from 13th Century
> Schools: Only for adults initially
> Church: Saw children as fragile creatures needing protection
> Clothing: By 17th Century distinction between children’s & adult’s clothing
A03 Childhood as a Social Construct (Key Studies)
> Pollock (Aries)
> Opie (Postman)
Pollock A03 Childhood as a Social Construct (Key Study)
> Childhood was just different, not non-existent
Reasons for Children’s Changing Position in Society
> Laws Banning Child Labour
> Compulsory Schooling
> Child Protection & Welfare Laws
> Industrialisation
Laws Banning Child Labour - Reasons for Children Changing Position
> Not economic assets, but liabilities, dependent on parents