Topic 2: Childhood Flashcards
Childhood as a social construct:
What is a social construct?
Something that is created and defined by society e.g. gender (roles and expectations and childhood (age and innocence)
Childhood as a social construct
is childhood a social construct
Sociologists see childhood as socially constructed (as something created and defined by society).
Sociologists argue that what people mean by childhood and how children are viewed in society is not fixed but differs depending on the place and culture
e.g. the western idea of childhood today with childhood in the past and in other societies.
The modern western view of childhood:
How is childhood seen in the west (use sociologists)
In society today childhood is seen as a special time of life and that children are different from adults.
As childhood is seen to be a golden age of happiness and innocence children are often seen as immature and need someone to be in charge of them and because children lack skills and knowledge they need to protected until they are ready to go into society. As a result, children’s lives are focused on family and education as adults provide for them and protect them from the outside world.
Pilcher (1995) - the most important feature of the modern idea of childhood is separateness. Childhood is seen as an important life stage and children in our society have a separate status from adults e.g. laws that say what children are allowed/not to do e.g. children cannot have sex until the age of 16 and marriage isn’t allowed until 18.
The modern western view of childhood:
How is childhood not seen as a separate age-status (use sociologist)
The view that childhood is a time of separate age-status is not found in all societies.
Stephen Wagg (1992) -
‘Childhood is socially constructed there is no single universal childhood that is experienced by all.
This means that, while everyone goes through the same stages of physical development, different cultures do it differently.
e.g. In western cultures children are seen as vulnerable and unable to fend for themselves (childhood is separated from adulthood)
whereas in other cultures don’t have a difference between children and adults.
Cross cultural differences in childhood
How is childhood views in other places/cultures (use sociologist)
One way to show that childhood is a social construction is to compare how children are seen and treated in other times and places.
Benedict (1934) argues that children non-industrial societies are generally treated differently compared to children in the west. The divide between the behaviour expected of children and that expected of adults is much less than in the west
This helps to show that childhood is not a fixed thing found universally in the same form in all human societies, but is socially constructed and so differs from culture to culture.
e.g. They take responsibility at an early age. Punch’s (2001) found that in Bolivia when children are 5 years old, they are expected to take work in the home/community. These jobs are taken on without hesitation.
Children’s sexual behaviour is often viewed differently e.g. Malinowski (1957) found that among the Trobriand Islanders adults took an attitude of ‘tolerance and amused interest towards children’s sexual explorations and activities.
The globalisation of western childhood
What is the globalisation of western childhood (use sociologist)
Some sociologists argue that how the west views childhood is being globalised (interconnection of the world)
International humanitarian aids have imposed the idea that western ideas of childhood are right e.g. a separate life stage in which children are dependent and have no economic role.
e.g. campaigns against child labour reflect western views about how childhood ‘should’ to be - whereas in reality how children are treated in other countries may be the norm for the culture and an important in order to prepare children for adult life.
Historical differences in childhood
How was childhood viewed in the past (use sociologists)
The position of children differs over time as well as between societies.
Ares (1960) - argues that in the middle ages the idea of childhood didn’t exist. Soon after being weaned, the child began working from an early age.
Children were viewed as ‘mini-adults’ with the same rights, duties and skills as adults e.g. the law often made no distinction between children and adults and children often faced the same punishments that adults did.
Parental attitudes towards children in the Middle Ages were also very different from those today. Shorter (1975) argues that high death rates encouraged indifference and neglect towards children e.g. parents often gave the new born baby the name of a dead sibling or referred to the baby as ‘it’.
The modern cult of childhood
What is the modern cult of childhood (use sociologists)
Aries - how childhood is perceived now began to emerge from the 13th century. These developments of childhood head the modern ‘cult of childhood’ ( he argues that we have moved away from a time when childhood wasn’t see as a special/important time to one which thinks childhood is special and important.
e.g. Schools began to specialise in the education of children. This reflected the influence of the church (saw children as creatures of God that needed discipline and protection from worldly evils).
e.g. By the 18th century, books on childrearing (child raising) were available. This shows how society was beginning to become child-centredness among the M/C.
The modern cult of childhood:
Criticisms of childhood not existing in the past (use sociologist)
Some sociologists have criticised Ariès for arguing that childhood didn’t exist in the past.
Pollock (1983) argues that in the Middle Ages, society had a different view of childhood from today’s society. Childhood did exist it was just viewed in a different way.
However, Aries’ work is valuable as it shows that childhood is socially constructed. He shows how ideas about children and their social status varied over time.
Reasons for changed in the position of children
What are the reasons for the change in position of children (use dates) e.g. schooling
1880 - the introduction of compulsory schooling meant that children were no longer viewed as an economic asset they were an economic liability especially for the children of the poor (m/c and u/c were already receiving education) and ROSLA (2016) has extended this period of dependency.
Reasons for changed in the position of children
What are the reasons for the change in position of children (use dates) e.g. children’s rights
The idea of children’s rights e.g. the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) sets basic rights e.g. entitlement to healthcare and education, protection from abuse and the right to participate in decisions that affect them such as custody cases.
Reasons for changed in the position of children
What are the reasons for the change in position of children (use dates) e.g. laws and policies
Laws and policies that specifically apply to children e.g. minimum ages sex to smoking, this reinforces the idea that children are different from adults therefore there should be different rules .
Reasons for changed in the position of children
What are the reasons for the change in position of children (use dates) e.g. industrialisation
Industrialisation - the shift from agriculture to factory production as the basis of the economy - helps to show why childhood changed.
e.g. the modern industry needed an educated workforce and this requires compulsory schooling of the young.
The disappearance of childhood
What examples show that childhood is disappearing (use sociologist)
Postman (1994) - argues that childhood is ‘disappearing at a dazzling speed’.
He says that there is a trend towards:
Giving children the same rights as adults 2010 Equality Act.
The disappearance of children’s traditional unsupervised games e.g. devices are being used instead of playing outside.
the growing similarity of adults’ and children’s clothing e.g. children’s clothing is becoming increasingly sexualised.
Cases of children committing ‘adult’ crimes such as murder James Bulger case
The disappearance of childhood
What is the information hierarchy (use sociologist)
Postman argues that childhood emerged as a separate status along with mass literacy from the 19th century.
information hierarchy is a sharp division between adults e.g. adults who can read and children who can’t.
The disappearance of childhood
How has the information hierarchy lead to the disappearance in childhood (use sociologist)
Postman argues that childhood emerged as a separate status along with mass literacy from the 19th century.
This is because the printed word (newspapers) created an information hierarchy. This gave adults the power to keep knowledge about sex, money and violence away from children and childhood became associated with innocence and ignorance. However, now television blurs the distinction between childhood and adulthood by destroying the information hierarchy as children can access things that adults can.
The boundary between adult and child is broken down meaning that the innocence of childhood is replaced by knowledge.
The disappearance of adulthood
What is the disappearance of adulthood
The disappearance of adulthood is where adults’ and children’s tastes and styles become indistinguishable therefore there is no distinction between adulthood and childhood
The disappearance of childhood
How is childhood disappearing (use sociologist)
Postman (1994) - argues that childhood is ‘disappearing’.
In Postman’s view, the reason for the emergence and the disappearance of childhood is in the rise and fall of print culture (newspapers) and its replacement by television culture.
During the Middle Ages, most people were illiterate, and speech was the only skill needed for participation in the adult world meaning that children were able to enter adult society from an early age.
As well as this, childhood was not associated with innocence and the adult world associated with mystery. There was no division between the world of the adult and that of the child.
Evaluation of the disappearance of childhood (use sociologist)
Opie (1993) argues that childhood is not disappearing. She argues that there is strong evidence of the continued existence of a separate children’s culture over many years.
Postman’s study is valuable in showing how different types of communication technology can influence the way in which childhood is constructed.
However, he over-emphasises how television has caused this which isn’t necessarily true as there are other factors that have influenced the development of childhood.
Childhood in post modernity
What are post-modernists view on childhood (use sociologist)
Jenks (2005) does not believe childhood is disappearing, but he does believe it is changing.
Jenks argues that childhood is changing as society moves from modernity to postmodernity. In modern society, adults’ relationships were more stable, but in postmodern society adult relationships become more unstable as there is more choice e.g. divorce becomes much more common.
Because relationships are no longer stable, this helps to provoke feelings of insecurity. As a result, adults become more fearful for their children’s security and even more preoccupied with protecting them from dangers. This helps to continue the view that children are vulnerable and need protection resulting with greater regulation on children’s lives.
Jenks - childhood continues to be a separate status as there are legal restriction placed on what children can/can’t do which shows how they are different to adults.
Evaluation for post modernity view on childhood
Jenks is guilty of over-generalising.
Despite the greater diversity of family and childhood patterns found today e.g. lone-parent families, stepfamilies he makes large statements implying that all children are in the same position.
Has children position improved
As we have seen, childhood is socially constructed and varies between times, places and cultures.
There are differences between childhood in western societies compared with developing countries and European societies in the past.
e.g. in the Middle Ages, all children would be put to labour and schooling was available only to the wealthy.
The March of progress view
What is the March of progress view on childhood (use sociologist)
The march of progress view argues that over the years the position of children in western societies has been steadily improving and today children’s position in society is better than it has ever been.
Ariès and Shorter hold a march of progress view. They argue that children today are better protected and educated and have more rights than those in the past.
e.g. children today are protected from harm and exploitation by laws against child abuse and child labour
e.g. Better healthcare and higher standards of living also mean that babies have a better chance of survival now than a century ago. 1900 - imr was 154 per 1,000 live births
Today, imr is 4 per 1,000 (imr-infant morality rate
The child centred family
How has the family become child-centred (use sociologist)
Higher living standards and smaller family sizes (2014 -1.83 per woman 2024 - 1.75) means that parents can afford to provide for children’s needs properly. By the time a child reaches their 21 birthday, they will have cost their parents over £227,000.
March of progress sociologists argue that the family has become child-centred as children are no longer to be ‘seen and not heard’ instead they are now the focal point of the family, consulted on many decisions.
Parents invest a great deal in their children emotionally and financially and have high aspirations for them to have a better life and greater opportunities than they themselves have had.
