Childhood

The modern notion of childhood: Pilcher notes the most impor. ft of CH is separateness. CH is seen as a clear, distinct life stage & childre. in our society occupy a sep. status from adults. This is emph. thru laws regulating what child. r allowed or forbid. to do. Also the idea that CH is the 'golden age' of happiness & innocence. This innoce. means child. r seen as vulnerable & need 2 b protected.

Wagg: "CH is socially constructed." This means that while all humans go thru physic. devel, diff cultures construct or define this process diff.

Cross cultural diff:


  • They take resp at an early age. E.g Punch fnd that in rural boliv, once child is 5 y/o they r expec. to take work respons in the house + commun.
  • Less value is placed on child showin obedience to adult. E.g Firth found that among the Tipokia doing as u r told is a concession granted by the child.
  • Children sexual behav is viewed diff. E.g Malinowski in the Trobiand islands found that adults took an att of tolerance towards childrens sexual explorations & activities.

Intern humanitarian & welfare agencies have imposed on the rest of the wrld, western norms of what CH should be. E.g campaigns against child labour however this may be the norm in other cultures. > Globalisation of western CH

Historical diff in CH:

  • Aries argues in the Middle age 'the idea of CH did not exist.'
  • CH as a sep state was short. They were mini-adults e.g begin work early.
  • The law made no distinc. bet child & adults, they often faced the same severe punishment as those meted out to adults.
  • Higher death rates enc. indifference & neglect towards infants. e.g they would refer to the baby as 'it.'

Reasons 4 changes in position of child:

  • Laws restricting child labour & excl child from paid work. E.g From being economic assets to economic liabilities - becomes FD on parents.
  • The into of compul schooling extended the period of dependency.
  • Child protect & welfare leg: 1889 prevention of cruelty to children act & the 1989 children act. This made welfare of child fundam. in works of agencies.
  • The growth of the idea of child rights: The child act defines parents as having respo rather than rights while the UN lay down basic rights such as protection from abuse.
  • Declining family size & lower IMR have enc parents to make greater finan + emotio investments in the fewer children they have.

The disappearance of childhood: Postman argues that CH is dissap at a 'dazzling speed' . He points towards the trends of giving child the same rights as adults, the similar of clothing & crimes. He argues the cause of this lies in the fall of print culture and the rise of television.

Information hierarchy: Printed word creat. an inf hierarchy: a sharp division betw adults who can read & child who cannot. This gave adults the pwr to keep kowledge abt sex, money & violence a secret. Televi. blurs the distinc between AH & CH by destroying the IH as the boundary betw adult & child is broken down.

Eval:

  • Opie argues CH is not dissap, based o a lifetime of research she found there is strong evid of the continued existence of separateness.
  • Postman overemphasised tv at the expense of other factors that have influenced the development of CH.

CH in PM: Jenks argues as society moves from moder. where adult realtions were more stable to PM where the pace changes up & r more unstable it gener. feels of insecurity where relations w child become a source adults identity & stability.

Eval: Evid for & aga Jenks is lmtd. Jenks is guilty of over-generalising, despite the diversity of family he makes sweeping statements that imply all child r in the same position.

Has position of CH imporoved?

The conflict view:

  • The MOP view is based on false & idealised image that ignores important inequalities.
  • There are inequalities amongst children & inequalities betw. adults and children

IAC:

  • There r also gender diff bet children. Boys r allowed to go out after dark, cycle etc whereas girls r more likely to do domestic labour
  • There r ethnic differences. E.g Brannen found that Asian parents were more likely than other parents 2 be strict towards their daughters.
  • Class inequalities: Poor mothers r more likely to have low birth-weight babies which is in turn linked to delayed physical + intellectual development.

IBCA:

  • Firestone + Holt argue that the things that MOP socio see as care & prote are in actual fact forms of oppression & control. E.g rules around paid work is a way of making them dependent, powerless & subject to adult control.
  • Adult control can take forms of neglect, physical abuse. In 2013, 43k child were under protection plan bc of this.
  • Childrens movements r heavily regulated e.g shops may display signs such as 'no schoolchildren.'

The MOP view: argues that today's childr r more valued, better cared for, protected and educated, enjoy better health & have more rights than prev gen. - E.g protected by laws, govt spends huge amount on ed, better standards of living e.g 1900 the IMR was 154 now 4 per 1,000.

Child-centred family:

  • Higher living standards & smaller family sizes mean that parents can afford to provide for children's needs properly. To raise a child up until 21, it costs £227k.
  • MOP socio argue that the child is now the focal point of the family, consulted on many decisions as never b4.
  • Not just family so is society child-centred e.g much media output & leisure activities r designed specifically for children

Toxic childhood: Palmer argues that due to increasing technological & cultural change in the past 25 yrs it has damaged their physical, emotional & intellectual developm. These changes range from parents working long hours to testing in ed.

The new sociology of childhood: Argues that perp of child must be taken. Instead os seeing children as 'adults in the making'. It should b viewed as active agents who play a major part in creating their own childhoods. E.g Smart et al found that children were not passive victims in divorces they were actively involved, trying to make the sit. better.