Topic 1 - Childhood

Question 1

Childhood as a social construct

Answer 1

• Created and defined by society
• The idea and meaning of childhood is not fixed but differs between different places, time, and cultures

Question 2

Western notion of childhood

Answer 2

• Comparative approach
• Compared with childhood in the past and other societies

Question 3

The “golden age” of childhood

Answer 3

PILCHER:
- Most important feature of modern childhood is seperateness
- Childhood is clear with distinct life stages
- Golden Age of happiness and innocence
- Innocence means adults must protect children from the adult world and must be quarantined
- Excluded from paid work, happiness through leisure and play
- Different outfits (bright and colourful)

Question 4

A03 Golden Age

Answer 4

• The view that childhood is a separare age-status is not found in all societies = not universal
• WAGG: “Childhood is socially constructed. it is, in other words, what members of particular societies, at particular times, and in particular places say it is. There is no singular universal childhood, experienced by all. Childhood isnt natural, and should be distinguished from mere biological immaturity”

Question 5

Cross-cultural differences as evidence for the social construct argument

Answer 5

• BENEDICT argued children in simpler, non-industrial societies are generally treated differently than their western counter-parts in 3 ways:
  1) They take responsibility at a young age
  2) Less value is placed on childen showing obedience to adults
  3) Childrens sexual behaviour is often viewed differently

Question 6

They take responsibility at a young age

Answer 6

• PUNCH found rural Bolivia that children worked from the age of 5
• HOLMES found that too young was never a reason to not do something in the Samoan village

Question 7

Less value is placed on children showing obedience to adults

Answer 7

• FIRTH found in the Tikopia tribe, doing as you are told by parents is regarded as a concession to be granted by the child and not expectef by the adult

Question 8

Childrens sexual behaviour is often viewed differently

Answer 8

• MALINOWSKI found amongst the Trobriand Islanders, adults took an attitude of tolerance and amusement towards children’s sexual explorations and activities

Question 9

Globalisation of western childhood

Answer 9

• Some sociologists argue that western views of childhood are now being globalised
• International humanitarian and welfare agencies have exported and imposed on the rest of the world, western norms of what childhood should be, e.g., campaigns against childhood labour, or concerns about street children

Question 10

Historical differences as evidence for the social construct argument

Answer 10

• ARIES investigated works of art from various periods of time and looks at three key points in time that are relevant to our understanding of childhood today:
  1) Middle ages: 10th - 13th century
  2) The cult of childhood: 13th century onwards
  3) The century of the child: 20th century

Question 11

Middle ages: 10th - 13th century

Answer 11

• The idea of childhood did not exist
• Children were not seen as difficult to adults once the had passed the stage of physical dependancy
• Worked from an early age
• The law made no distinction between children and adults and children aften faced the same severe punishments as adults
• SHORTER argues high infant mortality rates means parents did not form emotional attachment to their children, which encouranged indifference and neglect, e.g., parents often gave their child the same name as a deceased sibling or forgot how many children they had

Question 12

The cult of childhood: 13th century onwards

Answer 12

• ARIES argues this is when the modern view of childhood started to emerge
• Schools started to specialise in education just for the young
• This reflected the Church were children were seen as the “creatures of God”
• Growing distinction between child and adult clothing
• 18th century = handbooks on child rearing had started to emerge showing child centerdness

Question 13

The century of the child: 20th century

Answer 13

• ARIES = we are now in a world that is obsessed with childhood, “the century of the child”

Question 14

A03 ARIES

Answer 14

• POLLOCK criticises ARIES for saying childhood did not exist in the middle ages, but instead the notion of childhood was different

Question 15

Why has childhood changed

Answer 15

• Laws restricting child labour and excluding children from paid work
• The introduction of compulsory schooling in 1880
• The growth of childrens rights: childrens act
• Declining family size: DONZELOT
• Laws and policies applying specifially to children

Question 16

Industrialisation

Answer 16

• The shift from agriculture to factory production has brought about many of these changes, e.g., modern industry needs educated workforce and so compulsory schooling is needed
• Higher standards of living and better welfare meant lower infant mortality rates
• Industrialisation is a key idea in the modern era of childhood and the changed status of children

Question 17

March of progress

Answer 17

• For children in western society, childhood has gradually improved over the past few centuries
• DE MAUSE: “The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we hsve only recently begun to awaken. The further back in history one goes, the lower the level of childcare, and the more likely children are to be liked, abandoned, beaten, terrorised, and sexually abused”

Question 18

ARIES and SHORTER - Children have more rights

Answer 18

• Smaller family sizes (1860 - 5.7 births) compared to (2014 - 1.83 births) = parents can afford more
• Parents will have spent £227,000 by the time their child turns 21
• Family has become more child-centred and are both financially and emotionally invested in their children
• Better healthcare and living standards

Question 19

Toxic childhood

Answer 19

PALMER:
- Junk food
- Social media and computer games (electronic village)
- Intensive marketing to children
- Long working hours of parents
- Growing emphasis of testing in education

Question 20

What are the results of a toxic childhood

Answer 20

• Obesity
• Early sexual experience
• Teenage pregnancies
• Self harm
• Drug alcohol abuse

Question 21

Conflict views of childhood improvements

Answer 21

• MARXISTS and FEMINISTS argue society is based on class and gender conflict
  1) There are inequalities between children
  2) There are inequalities between children and adults

Question 22

1) There are inequalities between children

Answer 22

• Not all children experience childhood in the same way and their experiences differ based on social stratification groups such as gender, class, and ethnicity

Question 23

Gender (children inequalities)

Answer 23

• HILLMAN boys are more likely to be allowed to cross/cycle on roads, use buses, and go out after dark
• BONKE girls do more domestic labour especially in lone parents families (5x more likely than boys)

Question 24

Social class (children inequalities)

Answer 24

• Poor mothers are more likely to have low birth-weight babies and can be linked to delayed physical and intellectual development
• Working class children are more likely to suffer from hyperactivity disorders and conduct disorders
• Children born into poor families are far more likely to die in infancy, fall behind in school, be shorter in height, suffer long-term illness, and be placed on the child protection register

Question 25

Inequalities between children and adults

Answer 25

1) Neglect and abuse
2) Control over children’s space
3) Control over children’s time
4) Control over children’s bodies
5) Control over children’s access to resources

Question 26

Neglect and abuse

Answer 26

• Physical neglect or physical, emotional, or sexual abuse
• 2013: 43,000 children were subject to a child protection plan
• Childline recieves over 20,000 calls a year from children saying that they were being physically and sexually abused

Question 27

Control over children’s space

Answer 27

• Children’s movements in industrial societies like Britain are highly regulated
• Shops often have signs that say “no school children”
• Increasing surveillance of children in public spaces
• Fears about road safety and stranger danger
• 1971: 86% of children walked to school alone compared to 25% in 2010

Question 28

Control over children’s time

Answer 28

• Adults control children’s daily routines
• For example, what time they get up, eat, go to school etc
• Control the speed children grow up

Question 29

Control over children’s bodies

Answer 29

• How children sit, walk, run, what they wear, hairstyles etc
• Washed, fed, dressed, hands held etc

Question 30

Control over children’s access to resources

Answer 30

• Limited opportunity to earn money so remain dependant on adults
• Labour laws and compulsory schooling excludes them from most child benefit goes to parents
• Pocket money is given deemed on whether the child deserves it and whether they have been “good enough”

Question 31

Age partiarchy

Answer 31

• GITTINS = inequalities between adults and children
• The family is often dominated by the male and he has the power over both the women and children
• Patriarchy effects and oppresses women as much as children
• HUMPHREYS and THIARA found that 1/4 of 200 women in their study left abusive relationships because they feared for their childrens safety

Question 32

HOCKEY and JAMES

Answer 32

• Acting up: acted like adults by doing things they were not meant to go e.g., smoking, exaggerating their age (nearly 10)
• Acting down: behaved in ways expected by younger children (reverting to baby talk)

Question 33

A03 Child liberationist view

Answer 33

• Some adult control is needed over children as they cannot make rational decisions
• Children are not as powerless as liberationalists claim

Question 34

The future of childhood

Answer 34

• Socially constructed

Question 35

Disappearance of childhood

Answer 35

POSTMAN:
- Trend towards giving children the same rights as adults
- Disappearance of childhood games
- Growing similarity of adults’ and children’s clothing
- Children committing adult crimes like murder

Question 36

Information hierarchy

Answer 36

• Childhood emerged as a separate stage alongside the rise of mass literacy
• A division between those who can read (adults) and those who can’t (children)
• Therefore “adult” matters like violence, illness, and death became a secret to children
• Introduction of TV blurs the distinction between adults and children because it destroys the information hierarchy

Question 37

A03 Disappearance of childhood

Answer 37

• OPIE argues childhood is not disappearing at all, still an existance of the childhood culture over many years
• POSTMAN’S study has contributed to the social construction of childhood but is criticised for over emphasising the singulae cause of TV at the expense of other factors

Question 38

Childhood in post modernity

Answer 38

• JENKS does not believe childhood is disappearing
• Modern society was concerned with “futurity” and that childhood was the prepatory stage for the future
• JENKS argues childhood is undergoing further change as relationships are becoming less stable, e.g., divorce
• This creates insecurity and relationships with children become more important = adults become more fearful and protective over their children

Question 39

New sociology of childhood

Answer 39

• MAYALL argues it runs adults to mould
• “New sociology of childhood” sees children as active agents who play a major role in creating their own childhood

Question 40

The child’s point of view

Answer 40

• SMART: Include the views of children whilst living through childhood
• MASON and TIPPER: Children create their own definitions of who is family
• SMART ET AL Study of divorce found children were actively involved in trying to make situations better for everyone