Topic 2- Childhood

Question 1

what do children need as they have a lack of skills, knowledge and experience?

Answer 1

long period of nurture and socialisation before responsibility

Question 1

why do children need a long period of nurture and socialisation

what do they lack

Answer 1

• skills
• knowledge
• experience

Question 1

what does Pilcher say is the most important feature of the modern idea of childhood?

Answer 1

seperateness

Question 2

who said seperateness is the most important modern idea of childhood?

Answer 2

Pilcher

Question 2

how is chld seperateness emphasised?

Answer 2

• laws regulating what children are allowed or forbidden to do
• differences in dress
• through products and services aimed at children

Question 3

what is childhood referred to?

_____ age

Answer 3

golden age

Question 4

what is the golden age?

Answer 4

• children under 5
• has happiness and innocence

Question 5

what is the consequences of being innocent as a child?

Answer 5

• they are seen as vulnerable and need to be protected
• they need to be kept quarantined from the adult world

Question 6

what does Wagg argue about the view of childhood?

Answer 6

• childhood is socially constructed
• what people at particular times, places and societies says it is
• there is no universal childhood

Question 7

what does Wagg’s argument of there not being a universal childhood mean?

Answer 7

all humans go through the same physical development and different cultures construct or define this process differently

Question 8

what does benedict argue about childhood?

Answer 8

children in simpler non industrial societies are treated differently from modern western societies because:
* they take responsibility at an earlier age
* less value is placed on obedience to adults
* children’s sexual behaviour is viewed differently
there is a lesser divide between adult and chid behaviour.

Question 9

what is happening to the western view of society?

Answer 9

• becoming globalised
• campaigns against child labour in developing countries reflects the western view
• however this may be a norm for a culture that prepares a child for adulthood.

Question 10

what does Aries argue about the middle aged view of childhood?

Answer 10

• their idea of childhood didn’t exist so children and adults had the same needs
• middle aged laws made no distinction between punishments between adults and children
• the only difference depicted in paintings is the size

Question 11

according to Aries what century did the modern notion of childhood emerge and how did they?

Answer 11

• 13th century
• schools specialised in education of the young
• distinction between child’s clothes
• handbooks on childrearing were available (shows child centredness in families)

Question 12

what were the 8 changes of the position of children in the 19th and 20th century

Answer 12

• Laws restricting child labour and excluding children from paid work.
• The introduction of compulsory schooling
• Child protection and welfare legislation
• The growth of the idea of children’s rights
• Declining family size and lower infant morality
• Children’s development became the subject of medical knowledge
• Laws and policies that apply specifically to children
• Industrialisation

Question 13

what does postman say on childhood?

Answer 13

• it is quickly disappearing
• children have the same rights as adults
• children are committing ‘adult’ crimes
• share similar clothing
• says this is because of the rise of tv culture

Question 14

explain the information hierarchy and the link to the disappearance childhood

Answer 14

• is a sharp division between adults who can read and children who can’t
• gave adults power to keep knowledge about ‘adult’ matters so childhood was associated with innocence and ignorance
• television blurs the distinction between children and adults because it destroys the information hierarchy
• tv doesn’t require special skills to access it and it makes information available to adults and children
• the boundary is broken between them.

Question 15

what is an evaluation of the disappearance of childhood? who said this?

Answer 15

• opie said childhood isn’t disappearing as they researched children’s games (unsupervised), rhymes and songs they found there is evidence of the continuation of a separate culture for children.
• Postman over emphasises TV and does not consider additional factors that affect child development

Question 16

what does Jenks comment on and what does he say?

Answer 16

• childhood in post modernity
• childhood is not disappearing but is changing.
• Agrees with Aries that It was a creation of modern society.
• childhood is changing due to the societal change of modernity to postmodernity.
• adult relationships are more stable in modernity as in postmodernity the pace of change speeds up so relationships become unstable.
• This can be seen through divorces being more common and children become important in stability in adults as relationship insecurity rises.
• Adults’ relationships with children become last refuge from the uncertainty in life. Adults become more scared of their child’s security and worry about protecting them.
• so childood is a separate status as they are vulnerable

Question 17

evaluation for Jenk’s argument

Answer 17

• Their if evidence that parents prioritise their parent-child relationship over their partners, however this information is from small studies
• Jenks over generalises. He implies all children are in the same position which isn’t correct.

Question 18

what is the march of progress view of childhood?

Answer 18

• Position of children in western societies has been improving.
• Aries and shorter say todays children are valued more, cared for educated and educated better and have more rights than previous generations
• E.g. children are protected from harm with labour laws and professionals specialise to cater for children and their needs.

Question 19

give 2 arguments on march of progress view on childhood

Answer 19

• Child centred family
• Toxic childhood

Question 20

explain toxic childhood as a march of progress view on childhood

Answer 20

• Palmer says children are experiencing toxic childhood
• technological and cultural changes have damaged children’s physical, emotional and intellectual development

Question 21

what is the conflict view of childhood?

Answer 21

• Marxists and feminists dispute the idea that the position has children has improved dramatically.
• They argue society is based on a conflict with different groups and they have more status and wealth than others
• They argue the march of progress is based on a false image that ignores inequalities e.g. between children and adults

Question 22

give the 8 arguments the conflict view has

Answer 22

• Inequalities among children
• Inequalities between children and adults
• Neglect and abuse
• Controls over children’s space
• Controls over children’s time
• Controls over children’s bodies
• Control over children’s access to resources
• Age Patriarchy

Question 23

explain what age patriarchy is and who argues it

Answer 23

• gittins says age patriarchy is the inequalities between males to females and children
• many women leave their husbands as a fear for their child’s safety

Question 24

what are the 2 reactions a child has to age patriarchy?

Answer 24

• acting up- acting like adults by swearing, smoking and drinking
• acting down- behaving way younger than you are, popular strategy for resisting adult control by baby talk or insisting to be carried

Question 25

what does smart say about the child’s point of view?

Answer 25

• Smart says the new approach aim to include children’s experiences and opinions whilst they live through childhood
• Smart et al’s study of divorce found that from being active victims, children were involved in divorce trying to make the situations better

Question 26

what does smart and tipper sya about the child’s point of view?

Answer 26

• Mason and Tipper show children create their own meaning for family which may include fictive kin

Question 27

what research method does sociologists use to research children and why?

Answer 27

• Studies about children use research methods like informal and unstructured interviews which allows children to express their opinions and the researcher to gain a better understanding of their life.
• This enables sociologists to explore the diverse, multiple childhoods that exist even within a single society. E.g. Smart notes there are ‘disabled childhoods, Chinese childhoods, girls’ childhoods, poor childhoods, adopted children childhoods etc.