Family - Children and Childhood - 2.4

Question 1

Childhood as Social Construction

Answer 1

> Varies historically & culturally defined by society

Question 2

Modern Ideas of Childhood

Answer 2

> Distinct life stage with a right to happiness, opposite to adults e.g. diff laws, dress, product & services

> Vulnerable need adults to provide & protect from outside world

> Period of socialisation in family & education, excluded from paid work

Question 3

Childhood as a Social Construct (KS)

Answer 3

> Wagg (Separate Age Status)

> Punch (Cross-Cultural Differences)
Firth (Cross-Cultural Differences)
Malinowski (Cross-Cultural Differences)

> Aries (Historical Differences in Childhood)
Shorter (Parental Attitudes to Kids in Middle Ages)

> Postman (Disappearance of Childhood)
Jenks (Childhood in Postmodernity)

Question 4

Wagg (Separate Age Status)

Answer 4

> Not universal & should be distinguished from biological immaturity

Question 5

Punch (Cross-Cultural Differences)

Answer 5

At age of 5 children take work roles in home & society without question or hesitation (Bolivia)

Question 6

Firth (Cross-Cultural Differences)

Answer 6

> Listening to adults is the choice of the child not 
 the expectation (Tikopia)

Question 7

Malinowski (Cross-Cultural Differences)

Answer 7

> Adults were tolerant and amused by children’s sexual explorations (Trobriand islanders)

Question 8

Globalisation of Western Childhood

Answer 8

> Trying to impose western notions of childhood - including less economically developed countries

> e.g. Campaigns against child labour has no impact on children’s position in less economically developed countries - this prepares children for adult life.

Question 9

Aries (Historical Differences in Childhood)

Answer 9

> Childhood is a relatively recent invention. It was non-existent in Middle Ages e.g. artwork shows children as ‘mini-adults with equal roles

> Work began from early age, no distinction in law, faced equal punishments as adults

> But now obsessed with childhood e.g. 1900’s is the century of the child

Question 10

Shorter (Parental Attitudes to children in the Middle Ages)

Answer 10

> Increased death rate of children meant there was a lot of neglect.
Parents gave newborns their recently dead sibling’s name.
People forgot the number of children that they had.

Question 11

Aries & Historical Differences in School, Church, Clothing from 13th Century

Answer 11

> Schools: Only for adults initially

> Church: Saw children as fragile creatures needing protection

> Clothing: By 17th Century distinction between children’s & adult’s clothing

Question 12

A03 Childhood as a Social Construct (Key Studies)

Answer 12

> Pollock (Aries)

> Opie (Postman)

Question 13

Pollock A03 Childhood as a Social Construct (Key Study)

Answer 13

> Childhood was just different, not non-existent

Question 14

Reasons for Children’s Changing Position in Society

Answer 14

> Laws Banning Child Labour

> Compulsory Schooling

> Child Protection & Welfare Laws

> Industrialisation

Question 15

Laws Banning Child Labour - Reasons for Children Changing Position

Answer 15

> Not economic assets, but liabilities, dependent on parents

Question 16

Compulsory Schooling - Reasons for Kids Changing Position

Answer 16

> Made period of dependency on family, separating children from working life

Question 17

Child Protection and Welfare Laws - Reasons for Children Changing Position

Answer 17

Emphasised children’s vulnerability, made welfare main concern.

Question 18

Industrialisation - Reasons for Children’s Changing Position

Answer 18

> Modernity needs educated workforce e.g. compulsory education needed

> Increased living standards so decline in the infant mortality rate

Question 19

Opie (AO3 Postman)

Answer 19

Not disappearing but changing, still evidence of separate children’s culture e.g. games, books, songs etc.

Question 20

Postman (Disappearance of Childhood)

Answer 20

> Collapse of information hierarchy. Due to TV culture adult information is now visible to children.

> During print culture this information was less visible due to the need for literacy skills, so children can’t access themes e.g. sex, money violence

> This blurs adulthood & childhood as they participate in the adult world e.g. kids doing adult crimes e.g murder or rape.

Question 21

General Criticisms of Postman

Answer 21

Overemphasises the impact TV over laws/higher living standards.

Question 22

Jenks (Childhood in Modernity & Postmodernity)

Answer 22

> Changing not disappearing. There is increasing child-centeredness. We need childhood to be future productive adults.

> Vulnerable children need nurturing/protecting

> But in postmodernity there is more divorce, adult relationships are more unstable, so relationships between adults and children are a last refuge from insecurity

> Increased fear relating to children’s safety has resulted in greater regulation

Question 23

General Criticisms of Jenks

Answer 23

> Overgeneralises that all children are in an equal position, ignores diversity of family/childhood patterns.

Question 24

Has the Positions of Children Improved (Key Studies)

Answer 24

> Aries & Shorter (March of Progress view)

> Palmer (Toxic Childhood)

> Hillman (Inequalities Among Children in Gender)
Brannen (Inequalities Among Children in Ethnicity)
Woodroffe (Inequalities Among Children in Class)

> Firestone & Holt (Adult and Child Conflict & Inequality)

> Gittins (Age Patriarchy)
James & Hockey (Resistance to Age Patriarchy by children)

> Myall (New Sociology of Childhood)

> Smart (Children and Divorce)

Question 25

Aries & Shorter (March of Progress View)

Answer 25

> Position of children currently best ever, they are more valued & protected, have increased health & rights e.g. laws against child abuse

> Society is more child-centred with increased standards of living so we can afford provide more resources to them than ever before

> Parents make greater emotional & financial investments in them

Question 26

Palmer (Toxic Childhood)

Answer 26

> Technological/cultural changes damaged children’s development, so deprived of genuine childhood

> e.g junk food, video games, parents long working hours, tests at school e.g. SATS

> UK have increased rates of obesity, teen pregnancies, drug/alcohol abuse

Question 27

General Criticisms of Palmer

Answer 27

> Trends not applicable to all - working class are more likely to be affected.

Question 28

Hillman (Inequalities Among Children in Gender)

Answer 28

> Boys and girls have different experiences due to differences in socialisation.

> Boys have greater freedom younger e.g. going out late, girls restricted to bedroom culture

Question 29

Brannen (Inequalities Among Children in Ethnicity)

Answer 29

Asians are strict & more restrictive on daughters

Question 30

Woodroffe (Inequalities Among Children in Class)

Answer 30

> Working class mums are more likely to have low birth-weight babies, with delayed development.

> More likely to die as an infant, shorter in height, hyperactivity, low IQ etc

Question 31

Firestone & Holt (Adult and Child Conflict & Inequality)

Answer 31

> March of progress view is overgeneralised, more children are neglected

> Childhood is more oppressive, adults use the excuse of protection to limit their activities

> e.g. they are excluded from paid work, so dependent & powerless to adult control - but exclusion makes sense

Question 32

Gittins (Age Patriachy)

Answer 32

> Adult domination means children are controlled by adults, adults control children’s TIME, SPACE, BODIES, RESOURCES

> Children are economically dependent on adults, as they can’t work

> Greater control and abuse e.g. 40 000 kids are on the child protection register.

Question 33

James & Hockey (Resistance to Age Patriarchy by children)

Answer 33

> Children act older engaging in adult acts e.g sex, smoking

> They want to escape childhood.

Question 34

Myall (New Sociology of Childhood)

Answer 34

> Children are just seen as passive “socialisation projects” for adults to shape

> But children actually play an increased role in creating their own childhood.

> The New Sociology of Childhood looks at children’s viewpoints, exploring diverse childhoods

Question 35

Smart (Children of Divorce & New Sociology of Childhood)

Answer 35

> Children are not passive victims of divorce, they are actively trying to make the situation better for everyone.