topic 2 - childhood

Question 1

what do sociologists see childhood as and why

Answer 1

• socailly constructed
• because the notion of childhood differs between time periods, societies and cultures

Question 2

what is the modern western notion of childhood

Answer 2

• it is a distinct life stage separate from adulthood
• this is because in today’s society children are seen as physically and psychologically immature and therefore need this protected period of nuture and socialisation

Question 3

how is childhood emphasised as a separate lifestage in society

Answer 3

Plicher notes there are differences in
- laws regulating children’s behaviour e.g. labour laws, substance laws
- the way they dress
- entertainment
- food

Question 4

therefore what is childhood idealised as

Answer 4

a ‘golden age’ of happiness and innocence

Question 5

what does Wagg point to

Answer 5

as childhood is socially constructed, there is no universal childhood experienced by all

Question 6

how did Benedict explore Wagg’s view

Answer 6

• took a comparative approach to explore how childhood was views in different times

Question 7

what were Benedict’s findings

Answer 7

in non-industrial societies
- children took a responsibility at a younger age
- less value is placed on children showing obedience to adult authority
- children’s sexual behaviour is viewed differently

Question 8

explain: children took a responsibility at a younger age

Answer 8

Punch’s study of rural Bolivia: once children are 5Y/O they are expected to perform work/household responsibilites

Question 9

explain: less value is placed on children showing obedience to adult authority

Answer 9

Firth found that among the Tikopia of the western Pacific, obedience to adults was not a right to be expected by the adults

Question 10

explain: children’s sexual behaviour is viewed differently

Answer 10

amoung the Trobriand Islanders, Malinowski found that adults took an attitude of ‘tolerance and ammused interest’ towards children’s sexual exploration

Question 11

therefore, what does Benedict conclude

Answer 11

in non-industrial societies, there is a less distinct separation between the behaviour expected of children and that of adults
- so childhood is not a fixed concept found universally

Question 12

what is another arguement on the view of childhood

Answer 12

• it is a recent ‘invention’

Question 13

how does Ariès take on this view

Answer 13

• argued that from the 10th to 13th centuries, the idea of childhood did not exist, passed the stage of physical dependency during infancy
• in the Middle ages, the view of childhood as a separate stag was emerging, however it lasted only until being weaned where the child would be expected to work in the household of another family so were seen as ‘mini adults’
• children even faced the same punishments as aslts

Question 14

how does Ariès evidence this

Answer 14

by using artwork from these time periods where children appear much like adults, however just on a smaller scale e.g. they would be depicted as working together and even dressing the same

Question 15

what does S notice about parental attitudes towards children in the Middle Ages

Answer 15

Shorter highlights that due to high death rates, parents held an attitude of indifference towards their infants
- e.g. it was not uncommon for parents to name a new born the name of a recently passed sibling

Question 16

when did the notion of childhood begin to emerge

Answer 16

13 century onwards

Question 17

sch

one way childhood began to emege

Answer 17

schools were once a space which adults could also attend but came to specialise in the education of children due to the influence of the church which saw children as fragile ‘creatures of God’ in need of discipline and protection

Question 18

clo

another way childhood began to emege

Answer 18

growing distinction between adult and children’s clothing, especially by the 17th century

Question 19

children

a further way childhood began to emege

Answer 19

by the 18th century literacy around childrearing was widely available which was a sign of the growing child-centredness especailly amongst the middle class

Question 20

according to Aries what world do these changes occur in

Answer 20

‘the modern cult of childhood’ because we are now obsessed with childhood
- he describes the 20th century as the ‘century of the child’

Question 21

how does Pollock criticise Aries

Answer 21

it is not accurate to say childhood did not exist in the past, but rather there was a different notion of childhood

Question 22

work

reasons for changes in the position of children in today’s soceity

Answer 22

• industrialisation has led to increased demand for an educated workforce
• therefore resulting in the introduction of compulsory schooling 1880 + laws restricting child labour has led to children becoming economic liabilities

Question 23

protection

reasons for changes in the position of children in today’s soceity

Answer 23

• 1889 Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act made the welfare of children a fundamental focus in society
• growth of children’s rights such as the UN COnvention on the Rights of the Child which provides the foundations of children’s rights such as entitlement to healthcare, education etc

Question 24

fam size

reasons for changes in the position of children in today’s soceity

Answer 24

lower infant mortality rate has encouraged families to have less children leading to child-centredness where they make a greater financial and emotional investment towards the fewer children they now have

Question 25

why can we expect childhood to change

Answer 25

because it is socially constructed e.g. it changed from pre-industrial to modern and can change from modern to post-modern

Question 26

what is Postman's view of childhood in a postmodern society

Answer 26

- childhood is disappearing at a 'dazzling speed' due to the rise and fall of print culture and the emergence of television culture

Question 27

why does he argue there was no distinction between children and adults in the Middle Ages

Answer 27

most people were illiterate and speech was the only skill needed to enter the adult world so children were able to do so from an early age

Question 28

how did the rise of mass literacy result in childhood emerging

Answer 28

in the 19th century - printed word created an information hierarchy between adults who can read and children who cannot - adults kept knowledge about death, money and illness etc a secret from children so they could instead be associated with innocance and ignorance

Question 29

what is television's impact on this information hierarchy

Answer 29

- blurs the boundaries between childhood and adulthood thorugh visual imagery which makes all information available to children as well

Question 30

how does Opie criticise Postman

Answer 30

from her lifetime research into children's unsupervised games, rhymes and songs she argues that there is a strong evidence of the continued existence of childhood

Question 31

is Jenks' view similar or different to Postman

Answer 31

different as he believes childhood is changing not disappearing

Question 32

who does Jenks agree with

Answer 32

Aries, as he too sees childhood as a construction of modern society to prepare children to become productive adults in the future

Question 33

what characteristic of modern society contributred to the emergence of childhood

Answer 33

the futuristic view of modern soc - they believed that in order for children to be productive adutls, they needed to be nurtured and socialised by the child-centred family and the education system

Question 34

why is childhood changing now

Answer 34

because we are transitioning from mod to postmod soc, relationships are more unstable due to rapid change found in postmod soc e.g. divorces are more common

Question 35

how is the role of childhood changing in postmod soc

Answer 35

adults in a postmodern society experience uncertainty and insecurity; as a result, becoming a parent helps restore a sense of identity and purpose - this means parents become even more anxious regarding their child's wellbeing which instead strengthens the view that children are vulnerable

Question 36

two criticisms of Jenks

Answer 36

- their research is based of small, unrepresentative studies so in reality there is little evidence suggesting that parents see the relationship with their children as more important - he makes over-generalisations and fails to consider the greater family diversity of today's society

Question 37

what are Aries and Shorter's perspectives on the position of children

Answer 37

they hold a MoP view so argue that children are more valued through changes to laws, better cared for due to child-centredness, better educated and enjoy better health

Question 38

what evidence is there to support A and S

Answer 38

the family has become child centred: higher living standards and smaller family sizes (birth rate from 5.7 births per woman in the 1860s to 1.83 in 2014) mean that parents are better able to fulfill children's meterial and emotional needs e.g. by age 21, the child will have cost their parents over £227,000

Question 39

how is this view criticised

Answer 39

- Palmer and other sociologists argue that children are experiencing a 'toxic childhood' due to rapid technological and cultural changes over the past 25 years - these changes have introduced junk food consumption, computer games and the growing emphasis of testing in education

Question 40

what evidence is there for Palmer

Answer 40

- UNICEF survey in 2013: UK ranked 16th out of 29 for children's well being - UK youth have above average rates in international league tables for obesity, self-harm, drug and alcohol abude, violence, early sexual experience and teenage pregnancies

Question 41

what is another view against MoP

Answer 41

the conflict view with Marxists and Feminists arguing that the MoP is based on a false and idealised image that ignores: - inequalities among children - inequalities beyerrn children and adults

Question 42

# nation inequalities among children

Answer 42

children of different nationalities are likely to experience differenc childhoods e.g. 90% of the world's low birth-weight babies are born in developing countries

Question 43

# gender (H and B) inequalities among children

Answer 43

- Hillman argues boys given more freedom as they are allowed to cycle on roads and go out at night unaccompanies - Bonke notes that girls do more domestic labour, esp in lone parent families they do 5x more domestic labour than boys

Question 44

# ethinicty (B and B) inequalities among children

Answer 44

- Brannen's study of 15-16 y/o: - Asian paretjs were more likley to be strict towards their daughters - Bhatti found that ideas of izzat (family honour) placed great restriction on girls especiallu

Question 45

# class inqualities among children

Answer 45

- poor mothers are morelikely to have low birth weight children - children of unskilled manual workers are over 3x more likely to experience hyperactivity - children born to poor famililes are more likely to die in infancy, fall behind in school etc

Question 46

therefore...

Answer 46

we cannot generalise the experience of childhood as social class, gender and ethnic differences influence their life chances

Question 47

# F + H inequalities between children and adults

Answer 47

Firestone and Holt argue that what the MoP view as care and protection are in reality new forms of oppression: - exclusion from paid work make children more dependent and powerless, and therefore subject to adult control than previously

Question 48

what is the view of sociologists such as Firestone and Holt

Answer 48

child liberationism

Question 49

forms of adult control

Answer 49

- neglect and abuse - control over children's psace - control over chidlren's time - control over children's bodies - control over access to resources

Question 50

neglect and abuse

Answer 50

in 2013, 43000 children were subkect to child protections plans because they were deemed to be at risk especially from their parents with 17930 of them being subject to neglect - Childline recieved over 20,000 calls a year reporting sexual or physical abuse

Question 51

- control over children's space

Answer 51

- increased surveillance over children in public places - restrictions as to where they can go e.g. shops may display signs such as no school children - road safety concerns mean more children are driven to school e.g. in 1971 86% of children were allowed to travel home alone and this number dropped to 25% by 2010

Question 52

compare the control over children's space in industrial societies to developing counties

Answer 52

where there is more control in developed nations, Katz notes how rural Sudanese children roam freely both in the village and several km outside it

Question 53

- control over children's space

Answer 53

- modern society control children's daily routines due to compulsory schooling and the timings of a school day - adults control the speed at which children grow up - but this contrasts with Holmes' findings that too young is never given as a reason for not letting a child engage in a particular task

Question 54

- control over children's bodies

Answer 54

- adults exercise a large level of control over children's bodies such as how they sit and walk, what they wear, their hairstyles, piercings etc - it is also taken for granted that parents can touch their bodies when they are washed, being fed, getting dressed, when being affectionate or even using smacking as a form of discipline

Question 55

- control over children's access to resources

Answer 55

- labour laws excluse them from all but the low-paid part time employment - child benefit does not go directly to the child - pocket money given may depend on good behaviour and there could be restrictions as to how it is spent

Question 56

what term does G coin and explain it

Answer 56

Gittins coins the term 'age patriarchy' to describe adult domination over children

Question 57

how do H and J support Gittins

Answer 57

- they point to certain behaviours of children which suggest that they feel opressed such as through acting up or acting down

Question 58

describe acting up

Answer 58

acting like adults by swearing, smoking, drinking or through exaggerating their age 'I'm already 9'

Question 59

describe acting down

Answer 59

- behaving like younger children to resist adult control through baby talk or insisting on being carried

Question 60

therefore H and J conclude..

Answer 60

Hockey and James conclude that modern childhood is a status children want to escape

Question 61

what do critics of the child liberationst view argue

Answer 61

- some adult control is necessary on the grounds that children cannot make certain decisions for themselves or safeguard themselves - eventhough they are under adult control/supervision, they do not lack control due to their rights outlined in the UN Convention and the Childrens Act

Question 62

what is the risk of seeing childhood as a social construct

Answer 62

bears the risk of seeing children as passive objects who lack agency and seeing childhood from an 'adultist' viewpoint as Mayall suggests

Question 63

what is another view of childhood and what do they argue

Answer 63

- the new sociology of childhood - this approach doesnt see children as adults in the making but rather see children as active agents who play a major role in creating their own childhood

Question 64

M and T

Answer 64

Mason and Tipper show how children actively create their own defintions of who is family who may include poeple who are not blood-related - similarly Smart's study of divorce suggested that children are actrively involved in trying to make the situation better for everyone rather than being passive victims

Question 65

what is the difference in approach with such studies

Answer 65

they ise research methods such as informal unstructured intweviews to empower children to express their own views without the researcher's own dispositions influencing their answers

Question 66

how does this benefit sociologists

Answer 66

- enables them to explore the diverse, multiple chidlhoods that exists even within a single society