Topic 6 : Childhood Flashcards
What is the dominant framework?
Sees children as incomplete human beings who lack rationality and the other capacities of adults
Key features of the dominant framework:
- childhood and adulthood are seen as opposites
- children are seen as incomplete
- children are seen as proto-individuals (need socialising before they can become complete members of society)
Evaluation of the dominant framework (AO3)
CAGE = childhood experience depends on class gender ethnicity
Children are not passive - they can be agents of their own lives
Gittens - age patriarchy, children controlled by adults
Pilcher
Most important feature of childhood is ‘separateness’ - childhood is seen as a clear and distinct life stage
Laws and policies show this separateness, we see them with toys, highlighting the difference
Childhood is seen as the ‘golden age’ of innocence. Children are dependent and adults should protect children from the explicit progress of this world
Wagg
‘Separateness’ isn’t universal
Childhood is socially constructed, in particular societies there is no single concept of childhood
There are 2 reasons as to why childhood has been argued to be socially constructed:
1. Cross-cultural differences
2. Historical differences
Cross-cultural comparisons
- Responsibilities at an earlier age
- children work in other societies and its seen as normal
- ILO = 168 million child workers in 2012
- in places in Africa and Asia, children work to contribute to HH income - Roles
- children often act as carers. Around 175,000 children acted as carer according to the 2001 census - Child soldiers
- 2012 = 300,000 child soldiers
- 30 different countries have them
- UN = children 10 and younger are sometimes used to fight - Children did not have to show obedience to adults
- Samoa = children were not considered too young to do dangerous tasks
- tikopia = not expected to be obedient
Historical differences in childhood
Middle Ages:
Everyone worked together
Children dressed like their parents
Everyone was held responsible
Aries - childhood is a social construction
Argues that childhood did not exist in the Middle Ages
High infant mortality rates
Low expectations of life
Large families
Children had little to no education
Children started work at age 6
Shorter
Children in the Middle Ages were treated indifferent due to high death rates. Lack of emotional bonds
Child labour was common up until late 19th century (children were an economic asset, now they’re an economic liability)
Aries - the development of modern childhood
17th century - growing difference in children’s and adults clothing
School - focusing on the education of the young (especially with religious influences)
18th century - handbooks on parenting became available, particularly MC
Evaluation of Aries (AO3)
His work has been seen as value-laden - leading to him being over critical of medieval child rearing
Pollock - argues against Aries for saying childhood never existed. Instead says that childhood as a notion has changed
Has the position of the child improved?
YES
The March of progress view - has improved dramatically
NO
The conflict view - still too much diversity between ethnicity, gender and class
Aries about the position of the child
20th century has become the ‘Age of the child’ - family and society has become child centred.
Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries?
Policies (children’s rights)
Romantic love
Compulsory education
Smaller families
Technological change
Decrease ion infant mortality rate and increase in divorce rate
Welfare State
‘Expert’ knowledge
Economics of children
Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - romantic love
Shorter :
People began to marry for love rather than for children or financial security
As a result, children became seen as more important - products of a loving relationship
Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - technological change
Postman :
Development of the printing press meant that adults increasingly required children to learn to read - a skill that is built up slowly, encouraged the idea that children were different from adults and needed education to become like adults
Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - policies
Policies ensure that children are unable to take on aspects of adult roles
Ensure that childhood is a time of innocence which should be separate from the adult world
Industrial Revolution - child labour was common
1819 - children under 9 banned from work and older children limited to 12 hours a day
1889 prevention of cruelty to children act
Introduction of compulsory education - restricted work opportunities for children
Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - the economics of children
Extended the time that children were dependent on parents because they couldn’t work made them go from an economic asset to an economic liability.
This reinforces the idea that parents invest in their children
Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - family size
Lower infant mortality rate and the high costs of raising children, parents concentrate their efforts on the well being of the small number of children they have, seeing them as needing nurture and protection
Chambers - there has been a shift from valuing children for their economic benefits to valuing them for emotional reasons
Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - expert knowledge
Donzelot - existence of professionals who advocate theories of child development has influenced the nature of childhood - parenting advice is now spread through media
Family sizes from 1860s - 2014
1860s - 5.7 births per woman
2014 - 1.8 births per woman
Conflict view of childhood
Marxists and feminists argue differently
Argue that march of progress view of modern childhood ignores 2 inequalities:
- Inequalities among children in terms of treatment
- Inequalities between children and adults are greater - children experience more control by adults, not greater care
Inequalities between children - the Mx view
Child Poverty Action Group - 3.9 million children in verity in 2014-15 and this significantly impacted their experience of childhood (EG for some it meant going hungry - couldn’t do what others could in terms of activities {lack of cultural capital. Could impact education})
Poverty impacts health of children = poor children more likely to get ill and have lower life expectancy (absence in school - fall behind)
Inequalities between children - the Fem view
Boys and girls are not socialised in the same way - don’t share the same experiences
McRobbie = pre-teen boys have more freedom than pre-teen girls = parents worried about abduction os assault
Childhood is gendered: through independence and the tasks they do
Girls and boys have different amount of choice in what they can to, where they can go, free time
Inequalities between children - ethnicity
Bhatti - more emphasis was placed on family honour and family responsibilities in the socialisation of children in Pakistani families than in white British families
