Topic 2- Childhood Flashcards
Define the term social construct
Meaning or notion placed on an object/event by society.
Identify three features of childhood in our society
-Separateness (Pilcher): Childhood is seen as a clear and distinct life stage, and children in society occupy a separate status from adults.
-Idea of childhood as a ‘golden age’ of happiness and innocence. However, this innocence means that children are seen as vulnerable and in need of protection from the dangers of the adult world.
-There’s a belief that children lack skills, knowledge, and experience meaning that they need a lengthy, protected period of nurturing and socialisation before they are ready for adult society and its responsibilities.
Give three examples of how children are treated differently in different societies.
-Punch’s study in Bolivia: they take responsibility at a young age. At 5 y/o children are expected to take work responsibilities in the home or community (taken on w/o hesitation or questions)
-Firth: Less value is placed on children showing obedience to adult authority. Among the Tikopia of the western Pacific, doing as you are told by a grown-up is regarded as a concession to be granted by the child, not a right to be expected by the adult.
-Malinowski: Children’s sexual behaviour is often viewed differently. Among the Trobriand Islanders of the south-west Pacific, adults took an attitude of ‘tolerance and amused interest’ towards children’s sexual explorations and activities.
Explain what is meant by ‘the globalisation of western childhood’.
International humanitarians and welfare agencies have exported and imposed on the rest of the world, western norms of what childhood should be.
For example, campaigns against child labour reflect western views about how childhood ‘ought’ to be - whereas, in fact, such activity by children may be the norm for the culture and an important preparation for adult life.
Give two ways in which children were seen to be the same as adults in the Middle Ages.
-Children weren’t seen as having a different ‘nature’ or needs from adults.
-Children were essentially ‘mini-adults’.
For example, the law made no distinction between adults and children, and children often faced the same severe punishments as those given out to adults.
How does the painting illustrate Aries’ view of childhood in the Middle Ages?
Children appear without ‘any of the characteristics of childhood: they have simply been depicted on a smaller scale’.
How were parental attitudes to children different in the Middle Ages?
Shorter: high death rates encouraged indifference + neglect, especially towards infants.
For example, it wasn’t uncommon for parents to give a newborn baby the name of a recently dead sibling, to refer to the baby as ‘it’ or to forget how many children they had had.
Give three reasons for the emergence of the modern notion of childhood.
-Schools came to specialise purely in the education of the young. Influence of church. Children: ‘fragile creatures of God’.
-Growing distinction between children’s and adults’ clothing. 17th century u/c boy would be dressed in an outfit ‘reserved for his own age group, which set him apart from adults’.
-By the 18th century, handbooks on childrearing were widely available.
State one criticism of Aries’ work.
Some sociologists had criticised Aries for arguing that childhood didn’t exist in the past.
Pollock argues that it’s more correct to say that in the Middle Ages, society simply had a different notion of childhood from todays.
State three ways in which Postman argues that childhood is disappearing.
-The disappearance of children’s traditional unsupervised games.
-The growing similarity of children’s and adults clothing.
-Cases of children committing ‘adult’ crimes such as murder.
According to Postman, what is the main reason for the disappearance of childhood?
The rise and fall of print culture and its replacement by television culture.
Outline how in Postman’s view the information hierarchy has been destroyed.
TV is a source of information to children and this means adults are no longer the ‘gatekeepers’ to information.
Give one criticism of Postman’s view that the information hierarchy has been destroyed.
Children are still children: Adults know more than them and TV isn’t available to everyone. Childhood is different, no disappearing.
According to Jenks, what is the difference between childhood in modernity and post-modernity?
-Social change has created uncertainty and anxiety.
-Family becomes the only ‘solid’ part of identity, therefore children become more important and protected. (Childhood will become more separate, regulated and protected).
How does Jenks see parents’ relationships with their children in postmodern society?
-Children become more important as a source of adults’ identity and stability.
-They become adults’ last refuge from the constant uncertainty and upheaval of life, therefore, they become overprotective of their children.
