The Sociology of Childhood 14 F Flashcards
(36 cards)
1
Q
what are 3 ways childhood is seen as a seperate age status
A
- laws regulating what children are allowed, required or forbidden to do
- differences in dress from adults
- products and services for children - toys,books,food, play areas
2
Q
why is childhood socially constructed
A
what people mean by childhood, and the position children occupy in society is not fixed but differs between different times, places and cultures
3
Q
what is the contemporary family regarded as
A
- child-centred
- means that a childs needs are put before the adults
4
Q
what is the contemporary family regarded as
A
- child-centred
- childs needs are put before the adults
5
Q
Samanth Punch
global comparisons
A
- study of childhood in rural bolivia
- once children are 5 they are expected to take on work responsibilities in the home and in the community - without hesitation
- in many non industrial cultures there was much less of a dividing line between behaviour expected of children and that of adults - may work from a younger age and play a differnt role in families
6
Q
Jean Briggs
global comparisons
A
- worked with canadian artic inuits and found that growing up is largley seen as a process of acquriing thought, reason and understanding (inuit ihuma)
- young children don’t posses these qualties and are easily angered, cry frequently, dont understand external difficulties the community faces
- treated with great deal of tolerance and leniency
- when they are older and aquire thought parents start to discipline
7
Q
globalisation of western childhood
A
- western notions of childhood are globalised
- international humanitarian and welfare ageniced have imposed norms on the rest of the western world about what childhood should be - protected, and seperate life stage
- Eg: campains about child labour - refelct western ideas of childhood
- such campains may as a result have little impact on position of children in developing countries
8
Q
Phillip Aries
A
- way children are percieved today is very differnt to childhood in pre industrial times
- children used to be ‘little adults’ who took part in the same play and work activites as adults - children specific toys did not exist
- children were regarded as an economic asset, could help with working on land alongside family
9
Q
childhood and industrilisation
A
- working class children worked in factories, mines, and mills
- MC attitudes towards children begin to change
- infant mortality rates begin to fall, growth in parental love amoungst MC families
- mid 19th century - attitudes begin to change as children excluded from mines and factories as many had been killed or injured
10
Q
childhood in 20th century
A
- emergence of child-centred society #
- improved standard of living and nutrition in late 19th century - lower infant mortality
- children are more expensive so people chose to have fewer and more invested in terms of love, protection, and socialisation
- children seen as needing special attention and protection
11
Q
reason for changes in position of children
A
- child labour laws
- compulsory schooling
- child protection and welfare legislation
- idea of childrens rights
- declining family size and lower infant mortality rates
- other laws and policies
12
Q
child labour laws
reason for changes in position of children
A
- excluded children from paid work
- children went from being economic assests to economic liabilities
13
Q
compulsory schooling
reason for changes in position of children
A
- introduced in 1880
- poor children now required o go to school (MC AND UC had already been reieving education)
- extending period of dependency
14
Q
child protection and welfare legislation
reason for changes in position of children
A
- 1889 prevention of cruelty to children act
- 1989 children act made the welfare of the child the main principle underpinning the work of social services and other agencies
15
Q
idea of childrens rights
reason for changes in position of children
A
- United Nations Convention on rights of children (1989) lays down basic rights
- such as entitlement to health care and education, protection from abuse, right to participate in decisions about them eg: custody cases
16
Q
declining family size and lower infant mortality rates
reason for changes in position of children
A
encouraged parents to make greater financial and emotional investment in the fewer children they now have
17
Q
other laws and policies
reason for changes in position of children
A
minimum ages for activites like sex, drinking, smoking
18
Q
functionalist perspective of childhood
A
- ‘conventional approach’ to childhood
- children learn social roles through socialisation
- family is functional in that it socialises children into the norms and values of that society
19
Q
new right perspective of childhood
A
there is a ‘right’ way to bring up a child and some inadequate parents (single mothers) can be blamed for other social problems eg: delinquency
20
Q
John Hood Williams
new right
A
- looks at how the economic role of children has changed
- argues that children have changed from postitive contributors to (kids worked to contrib to household budget) to domestic economies (children more dependent) to objects of consumption
- powers with family have changed between parents and children
- change in victorian view that children should be ‘seen and not heard’
21
Q
marxist perspective of childhood
A
- children are socialised to accept capitalist values to prepare themselfs for the capitalist workplace when they are adult
- cooper - learn to obey authority by parents
- consumers of capitalism
22
Q
cotton wool kids
A
- todays children are overly protected “wrapped in cotton wool”
- although protection of children is generally a good thing - argued causing children to lose thier independence, ability to make decisons and judge risks
23
Q
Helicopter parenting
A
- idea that parents increasingly hover over thier children
- oversee play and activities
- organise their schedules
24
Q
Hilman
neg experiences - inequality: gender, ethnicity, social class
A
boys are more likley to be allowed ro cross or cycle on roads, use buses, and go out on their own at night
25
Jens Bonke
| neg experiences - inequality: gender, ethnicity, social class
* girls do more domestic labour, especially in lone parent families
* lone parent - girls do x5 more housework than boys
26
Julia Brannen
| neg experiences - inequality: gender, ethnicity, social class
found that asian parents were more likely than other parents to be strict towards thier daughters
27
Marylin Howard
| neg experiences - inequality: gender, ethnicity, social class
* children born into poor families are more likely to die in infancy/ childhood
* suffer longstanding illness
* shorter in height
* fall behind at school
* placed on child protection register
28
Gittens 'age patriarchy'
| negative experiences
* an age patriarchy of adult domination and child dependency
* power may assert itself in form against both women and children
29
inequalities between children and adults
* neglect and abuse - 2013 43,000 children subject to child protection plans as deemed at risk of significant harm - mostly from own parents
* control over childrens bodies - what they wair, hairstyles, how walk, run, talk
* control over childrens space - 'no school children' in shops, stranger danger ~ led to more children being driven around and space for 'play' limited
30
Sue Palmer
| negative experiences
* children experiencing a **toxic childhood**
* rapid tech and cultural changes in last 25yrs damaged childrens development
* EG: junk food, video games, intensive marketing towards children, growing emphasis on education
31
Postman
| simularities between ages
* **dissaperence of childhood**
* childhood only possible if children can be seperated, therefore protected from adult world
* mass media and tv brought adult world to children
* secrecy adult world wiped via TV
* boundaries breaking between child and adult world
* all this signals end of childhood, in long run
32
Buckingham
| simularities between ages
* children become a major economic force
* their tastes have a huge effect on what is produced and bought Eg: mobiles, computer games
* advertisiers know children will ask parents to but them latest consumer goods
* known as **pester power**
33
Ofcom 2019 - pester power
| simularities between ages
* half of 10 yr olds own their own smartphone
* 1/2 girls aged 5-15 now play online ( up 39% from 2018)
* example of pester power
34
Ofcom 2019 - digital freedom
| simularities between ages
* girls 5-15 are more likely to watch tv programmes on mobile devices than ever before
* 5% decline on children watching traditional TV sets
* argued giving children digital freedom, more likely they will expose themselfs to 'harmful' content - as intenet has no 'watershed'
35
Lee 2001
| simularities between ages
* childhood not disappeared but more complex
* children dependent on parents but independent in another sense
* mass childrens market that children influence
* can decide which products succeed and fail
* depends on their parents spending power
36
Jenks 2005 - postmodernity
| simularities between ages
* childhood undergoing change as society moves from modernity to post modernity
* relationships in post modernity are more unstable Eg: divorce more common
* creates insecurity relationships with their children become more important as source of adults' identity and stability - marriges may end in divorce, but still childs parent
* adults relationship with children may become last refuge from constant uncertainty of life
* adults therefore become more fearful for childs security and more concerned with protecting them from percieved dangers
