The ‘New Sociology’ of Childhood Flashcards
1
Q
What was the previous view of childhood?
A
- that childhood is socially constructed by culture, industrialisation, laws and policies, family, education and postmodernity
2
Q
What is the danger of this previous view of childhood?
A
- there’s the danger of seeing children as passive objects who have no part in making their own childhoods
3
Q
What does the previous view of childhood risk viewing children from?
A
- risks sees children from an ‘adultist’ viewpoint
4
Q
What is an ‘adultist’ viewpoint?
A
- a viewpoint where children are viewed as ‘socialisation projects’ for adults to mould, shape and develop
5
Q
What are the ‘does’ and ‘doesn’t’ of the new sociology of childhood?
A
- it does see children as active agents who play a major part in creating their own childhoods, it doesn’t see children as ‘adults in the making’
6
Q
How does Smart define the new sociology of childhood?
A
- he comments that it aims to include the views and experiences of children themselves while they’re living through childhood
7
Q
What does Mayall comment about what sociology should focus on regarding childhood?
A
- it should focus on the ‘present tense of childhood’
8
Q
What would studying the ‘present tense of childhood’ enable sociologists to study?
A
- the ordinary, everyday life from the child’s perspective
9
Q
What did Smart study and what did he find?
A
- he studied divorce and found that children were actively involved in trying to make the situation better for everyone
10
Q
What do the studies carried out by Smart use and why?
A
- they use informal, unstructured, qualitative research methods which empower children
11
Q
Why is it beneficial for researchers to empower the children they study?
A
- it allows them to express their views and allows researchers to see the world from the child’s point of view
12
Q
Who is this approach favoured by?
A
- it is an approach favoured by child liberationists
13
Q
What does the ‘new sociology’ of childhood enable sociologists to do?
A
- it enables them to explore the diverse, multiple childhood that exist within a single society
