Childhood Flashcards
(15 cards)
What does Wagg believe childhood is?
A social construction.
Childhood is created and defined by society. There is no singular universal childhood, but instead it changes across from time, culture and place.
It is not natural and should be distinguished from biological immaturity.
What is Pilcher’s idea around childhood?
Separateness.
Children live separate lives from parents, and adults. They are more vulnerable therefore need to be quarantined from the adult world.
This is done through: education, film ratings, exclusion from paid work, and controls on technology.
What is the evaluation around Pilcher’s and Wagg’s concepts?
Children are not a homogeneous group.
These concepts mainly apply to Western countries, rather than LIC’S around the world such as in Africa and Asia.
Example: Child soldiers within 50 countries, Girls denied education in parts of the Middle East.
What was Aries (1960) idea around childhood?
Childhood is invented.
He analysed paintings from the Middle Ages and concluded Childhood did not exist during that period.
What about children in the Middle Ages led Aries to his conclusion?
- They would start work at an early age.
- The law rarely distinguished between them and adults.
- Punishments were equally severe.
- High infant mortality rate led to adults being indifferent to children.
What does Aries conclude to support his argument?
Childhood alters to fit the need of society.
Childhood today has been lengthened so that children can acquire the skills in education required for our modern industrial society.
What are the positive criticisms around Aries (1960) methodology?
- Practical - secondary data that existed without researchers involvement, saving time and money.
What are the negative criticisms around Aries (1960) methodology?
- Lacks validity - picture relies on individuals interpretation.
- Lacks reliability - everyone has different ideas, it would be impossible for people to analyse and interpret the same ideas/results.
What has caused the change in position of children within the 19/20th centuries?
- Laws restricting child labour.
- Compulsory education.
- Child protection legislation.
- Medical knowledge on child development.
- Industrialisation.
What does Postman (1994) believe is happening to Childhood?
Childhood is disappearing at a rapid pace.
What examples support childhood disappearing?
- Children have similar rights to parents.
- Disappearance of unsupervised activities.
- Clothing similar to adults.
- Children committing adult crimes (i.e Murder)
Give an extended example that supports the disappearance idea
James Bulgar Murder.
The child offenders led to the age of criminal responsibility being lowered to 10.
This shows childhood is constructed through political populism.
How has TV possibly led to the disappearance of childhood?
TV has introduced children to adult content without needing to be literate - as it is visual.
In the past adults could restrict children access to information such as sex, violence, death - however this is no longer the case.
This is now known as the information hierarchy.
What are the positive criticisms of Postman’s (1994) theory?
- Sees importance of TV and unsupervised access to it.
- Emergence of internet and access to adult content supports decline in childhood.
What are the negative criticisms of Postman’s (1994) theory?
- Opie (1993) - studied children’s play and found little evidence of childhood disappearing.
- Jenks (2005) Argues cause is not information, instead decline in traditional family. Parents within fragile relationships forge new relationships based on greater equality to compensate.
