Topic 2, Childhood.

Question 0

Wagg

Answer 0

…childhood is what people in particular societies at particular times say it is. Therefore is isnt nature, but socially constructed.

Question 1

Pitcher

Answer 1

…childhood is a distinct life stage with special laws, dress and services.

Question 2

Benedict

Answer 2

…argues that children in simpler societies are seen differently from our western ideas.

Question 3

Punch

Answer 3

…found that children in Bolivia start working at the age of 5.

Question 4

Aries

Answer 4

…childhood relatively recent invention.

Question 5

Aries argues that between…

Answer 5

…10th and 13th century the idea of childhood did not exist. Children were mini-adults with the same laws, clothing and work situation once old enough.

Question 6

Shorter

Answer 6

…high death rate caused indifference from parents.

Question 7

Pollock criticises Aries…

Answer 7

…saying that there was a different idea of childhood, not a non-existent one.

Question 8

(Changes in the 19th and 20th century)

Laws restricting…

Answer 8

…children from paid work. Children are now an economic liability.

Question 9

(Changes in 19th and 20th century)

Compulsory…

Answer 9

…schooling.

Question 10

(Changes in the 19th and 20th century)

Smaller family sizes…

Answer 10

…mean that parents now spend greater emotional investment in their child/children.

Question 11

(Changes in the 19th and and 20th century)

Specific laws for…

Answer 11

…children. E.g, minimum age for sex, smoking, drinking, driving).

Question 12

(March of Progress view/MoP)

ARIES and SHORTER argue that…

Answer 12

…today’s children are better educated, cared for and healthier than any before them.

Question 13

(MoP view)

The government…

Answer 13

…spends an estimated £64 billion per year on Education now.

Question 14

(MoP view)

The infant mortality rate in 1900 was…

Answer 14

…154/1000, whereas today it is 5/1000.

Question 15

(Conflict view)

Marxists and…

Answer 15

…Feminists disagree with the idea of progress. They say that it is an idealised view that ignores inequalities. E.g, many children remain unprotected.

Question 16

(Conflict view) (inequalities amongst children)

Gender: HILLMAN found that…

Answer 16

…boys can cross roads and go out after dark whereas girls cannot.

Question 17

(Conflict view) (inequalities amongst children)

Gender: BONKE found…

Answer 17

…girls do more domestic labour.

Question 18

(Conflict view) (inequalities amongst children)

Ethnicity: BRANNEN found…

Answer 18

…Asian parents are much stricter with their daughters than with their sons.

Question 19

(Conflict view) (inequalities amongst children)

Class: Poor mothers are…

Answer 19

…more likely to have lower weight birth children leading to slow physical/mental development.

Question 20

(Conflict view) (inequalities amongst children)

Class: WOODROFFE found…

Answer 20

…that children of manual workers are more likely to have ADHD than Professionals.

Question 21

(Conflict view) (inequalities amongst children)

Class: HOWARD found that…

Answer 21

…poor children are more likely to die in infancy, have illnesses and to be placed on the child protection register.

Question 22

(Conflict view) (inequalities between children and adults)

FIRESTONE and HOLT would argue that…

Answer 22

…freedom from ‘paid work’ is in fact oppression and a means of controlling children.

Question 23

(Conflict view) (inequalities between children and adults)

CUNNINGHAM argues that…

Answer 23

…children’s movement is highly regulated. Fears about road safety and stranger danger means that children experience less and less independence.

Question 24

(Conflict view) (inequalities between children and adults)

Children’s times…

Answer 24

…are also controlled by adults, deciding when they should do various tasks.

Question 25

Postman.

Answer 25

Clothing, disappearance of traditional games, ‘adult’ crimes means childhood is disappearing at a ‘dazzling’ speed.

Question 26

Postman (2)

Answer 26

He argues that the advent of televisual culture (and the Internet) blur the lines between the child’s and the adults world. E.g, where adults could previously control information and make it secret, this is less and less possible.

Question 27

Palmer.

Answer 27

Some people think children are experiencing toxic childhood, e.g, junk food/computer games, etc.

Question 28

Dixon and Margo.

Answer 28

Argue that young people’s behaviour reflects the ‘TC’. UK is top of league tables for Obesity, Self harm, teen pregnancy, violence, among other things.

Question 29

Cunningham. (2)

Answer 29

Suggests that the area children can travel alone has shrunk to 1/9th the size it was 25 years.