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TOPIC FIVE : CHILDHOOD, :red_cross:Jenks argues the impact of media may…
TOPIC FIVE : CHILDHOOD
SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED
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- Protected by laws to prevent exploitation at work, neglect/abuse from parents, cheaper travel, and food,clothes, activities especially designed for them
- Special arrangements made for them by the state eg : schools, specialised healthcare, child benefits, child protection
Sociologists argue status and identity of children & childhood as a separate phase in life has been created by social attitudes rather than moulded by biological immaturity
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found in 3 areas :
- differences in treatment of children
- the way they view nature of children & childhood have changed through history and continue to change
- differences in children's status & responsibilities in the same society [class, ethnicity, gender]
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CHANGES OVER TIME
Aries - "Centuries of Childhood"
- Western societies expectations of childhood was created in processes of industrialisation
- Child centred society
-Believes childhood is a social construct
- Argued in Europe during medieval times a modern conception of childhood didn't exist
--> Once child could live without constant dependence of his mother or nanny, he belonged to adult society
- Many children died before reaching adulthood
- So children were not given the same importance attached to them today --> eg parents didnt get paintings of children after they died and minimum mourning was the norm
- Only in 16th Century that portraits of children who had died began to appear [modern ideas of childhood began to develop]
- Children expected to help out and take on [seen now as] "adult roles" as soon as physically able
- No specialist clothes for children so they were dressed as miniature adults
- Children were not as innocent - French & Spanish royalty suggest that it was not taboo to make sexual references to children or even to touch children's genitals
- Aries argues this change stemmed from partly churchmen who saw children as "fragile creatures of God who needed to be safeguarded and reformed" and through the development of modern schools
- Medieval schools --> ages all educated together
- 18th-19th century France began to separate children into age groups in schools
- As more people went to school- more segregated from adult world as children regarded as increasingly vulnerable & needed protected
- More children surviving into adulthood so parents invested more time and interest into them
- Childhood as a time of innocence & that they were an investment for the future became increasingly dominant
Romantic love - Shorter [1976]
- from 18th century romantic love began to develop
- marry for love rather than financial reasons or just for children
- as a result children became more important = product of a special relationship
Technological change - Postman [1982]
- development of printing press in late 15th century --> adults increasingly required children to learn to read
- learning to read is a gradual process --> encouraged idea that children were different from adults and needed educating to become adults
Policies
- In the industrial revolution of Britain [18th C] the use of child labour was widespread- in mines and textile mills [cunningham 2016] However in 1819 children under 9 were banned from working in textile mills and older children were limited to a 12h day
- 1889 Prevention of Cruelty of Children Act - restricted the employment of children
- Education made compulsory between ages 5-10 in 1880
- in 1918 school leaving age raised to 14
- in 1972 school leaving age raised to 16
- in 2013 school leaving age raised to 17
- in 2015 school leaving age raised to 18
Economics of children
- Increased length of time children are dependent on parents as they are unable to work themselves --> became economic liability
- reinforced idea that children are projects which parents invent rather than simply "small adults"
Family size
- Economics of parenthood has contributed to reduction in family size
- lower infant mortality , parents concentrate efforts on well being of their children
- Chambers [2012] believes there's been a shift from valuing children for economic benefits to valuing them for emotional reasons
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CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
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Western culture :
- freedom from adult responsibilities
- prolonged period of childhood and adolescence before adulthood
CONTEMPORARY DEBATE
Postman 1994 - argues that childhood is disappearing :
- Mass media is the main reason for this
- no longer an information hierarchy : where some adults could access more info than others because they were literate but slowly children have learned this
--> therefore impossible to keep aspects of adult life secret
- TV has led children to see images [sex & violence] which was previously inaccessible to them
--> doesn't require ability to read so can be understood at early age - no longer a time of innocence
:red_cross:Jenks argues the impact of media may complement the ability of children to create own social worlds & identities distinct from those of adults
- also has led to parents believing children need to be protected more than ever ; evident from increase Paranoid parenting and social policies around safeguarding such as age restrictions on movies
childhood and modernity
- Shift from Dionysian image of the child to the Apollonian image
DIOTC :
- children love pleasure & are curious & adventurous which can can get them into trouble and potentially act in evil ways
--> therefore need strict moral guidance to grow up to be a responsible adult
- little sentimentality
- typical of pre-industrial societies & into modern era
AIOTC :
-children born good but diff from adults
- must be carefully handled and the good side of their nature will appear.
- Each child is individual and therefore special
--> influenced child centred education, unsuitability of work, avoidance of physical punishment
Dicipline and monitoring
- Children increasingly disclined through monitoring and the control of space eg : restricted where they could go at certain times
- School - behind desks in lesson times
- Home - only in public if accompanied by an adult
- Modern family become aa rational institution designed to develop children so they become productive & well-adapted adults
- increasingly concerned with futurity = what the child would become in the future rather than the enjoyment & experience of childhood itself
Late modern/ postmodern childhood
- New era = late modernity
- resulted in a destabilisation of people's identities --> no longer have secure, grounded sense of who they are Eg : family life is insecure [divorce] & work is insecure [change jobs]
- people develop a reflexive sense of self [constant monitoring, revising, to try to change their sense of who they are --> increase anxiety and uncertainty about identity
child abuse
- Causes increasing anxiety
- increasing allegations of abuse than in the past and more publicity given
- so more people become aware of it and become more fearful for children
eg : parents worry about abduction so therefore become reluctant to let children go out without adult supervision
- but adults cannot guarentee their safety
Palmer - toxic childhood 2015
- argues life is getting worse for children in Western countries
- by 2014 10% of British children believed to have MHD
- reflected in stats for drug use, eating disorders, suicide, self harm and excessive alcohol consumption among children
- increasing rates for learning difficulties such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia --> some leading to prescribed drugs
Due to 3 key problems :
- difficulty concentrating
- hard to control own behaviour
- struggle to cooperate in groups
- Tech developments have transformed homes so parents have less control over access to media
- Family life has become less stable resulting in parents spending less time with children [dual earner families]
- Religion has declined
- Cultural traditions swept away
- lead to toxic childhood syndrome
To detoxify childhood :
- parents must reassert control eg : control access to media, bedtimes, diet
- but children need more freedom & time to learn to cooperate through play independently
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Wyness [2012] approx 300,000 child soldiers.
In recent yrs in more than 30 countries incl Democratic Repubic of Congo, Syria and Sudan.
- Girls and boys both involved
- Girls frequently subject to rape & other forms of sexual violence
UN [2007] availability of light and cheap weapons means children age 10 or even younger are used to fight
UNICEF 2014 report found 1 in 10 girls around the world experience sexual violence & approx 95,000 child murders each yr
--> suggest nature of childhood is not the same in every society
- what some children in some societies are expected to take on in what contemporary Britain would be considered an adult responsibility with many being against the law for children
Banks [2007] found children in Bangladesh as young as 11 and 12 working as sex workers using forged papers.
Wyness [2012] children often act as carers for their own parent or other adults
approx 175,000 children act as carers [census 2001]
Benedict [1995] found that compared to Western societies, some other societies differentiated much less between adulthood & childhood
Overall : not viewed as special time of innocence when children had to be sheltered. Children were seen as small adults
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Change towards end of medieval era :
- children's toys & clothes introduced
- paintings of children after death were kept
- Children's deaths were more mourned
- Taboo about children and sexuality developed
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- children were disciplined in schools and familes to ensure they were moulded into correct shape
- society become more concerned with children --> child centred
- 20th century specialist sciences had developed & emphasis to needs of children
Children have become the source of primary relationships - most fulfilling & unconditional relationships which last and from which people obtain most satisfaction.
Eg : wives and husbands used to be seen as most important source of primary relationship but due to increasing relationship breakdown [divorce]
--> parents now attach more importance to children
--> adults can rely on relationship with child and can cling onto it in uncertainty and instability of the post modern world
Chambers argues shift towards more child centred family provides benefits for the children as they get more say in own upbringing
Exposure to media is not negative as it is essential for peer group intergration nowadays
:red_cross: creates concerns about child safety - leading to restrictions on children's freedom of movement outside the home
"changing with mixed effects"