Life Expectancy and Childhood Flashcards
(17 cards)
Life Expectancy Trends:
Increased steadily due to:
- Better healthcare and medicine.
- Improved nutrition and living standards.
- Decline in infant mortality.
Impact on Childhood
- Longer Childhood
- Child-Centred Society
- Generational Shifts
- Aging Population
Impact on Childhood: Longer Childhood
More emphasis on protection and education (extended dependency).
Impact on Childhood: Child-Centred Society
Families and institutions focus more on child wellbeing.
Impact on Childhood: Generational Shifts
Longer life means more multigenerational families (e.g., grandparent involvement in childcare).
Impact on Childhood: Aging Population
Resources may shift from children to elderly care – affecting family roles and priorities.
Aries argued that:
two factors explain why society did not regard children as objects of love and devotion
- High level of infant mortality. ( very high level of infant mortality, which may have
led parents to be indifferent towards infants) - Financial reasons
- Children had to work in order for the family unit to survive, which in turn meant they were given adult responsibilities at a younger age.
Shorter, 1975
High infant mortality rates meant that parenting attitudes were
different
Why did the position of children change in the 19th and 20th centuries?
- industrialisation
-decline of infant mortality rates
-advances of infant mortality rates
-advances in specialist knowledge about children - laws banning child labour
- compulsory schooling
- contraception
- children protection and welfare laws
- laws about social behaviour
‘march of progress’ :) - children
- Children’s welfare has improved, in terms of their education, psychology and health.
- Infant mortality rate has declined; most babies now survive.
- Smaller family size means parents can afford to provide for children’s needs
- Children are protected from harm and exploitation by laws against child abuse and child labour.
‘march of progress’
aries
‘march of progress’ - aries
Aries believes that children
in today’s society:
- Are more valued
- Are more protected
- Are better educated
- Are healthier
- Have far more rights
A possible negative affect of the ageing population on the experience of childhood is that
parents who have to care for their ageing parents may not have as much time for their children
- esp. if end of life care is dragged out for several months or years as can be the case with degenerative diseases which are more common in old age
experience of childhood may also have been indirectly affected by
wider social changes brought about by the ageing population
wider social changes brought about by the ageing population
- as society has refocussed its resources towards caring for the old
- (some might even say pandering to the old)
- there are relatively fewer resources left for children, so funding in education suffers as does
- Higher Education with students now having to pay for it themselves.
Covid-19 pandemic
– society was focused on protecting the very old while schools just closed
– the children suffered for the sake of the old
– the experience of childhood here was one of blocked opportunities and increased fear and uncertainty caused, effectively by the government’s choice to put the over 70s first
– had the Pandemic happened in the 1920s when there were hardly any over 60s alive anyway society wouldn’t have had to shut down to protect them
had the Pandemic happened in the 1920s when there were hardly any over 60s alive anyway society wouldn’t have had to shut down to protect them - evaluation
in the 1920s, the 50s and 60s would have been the group that were high risk and that society would have still had to shut down to protect them?
