Topic 6 : Childhood

Question 1

What is the dominant framework?

Answer 1

Sees children as incomplete human beings who lack rationality and the other capacities of adults

Key features of the dominant framework:
- childhood and adulthood are seen as opposites
- children are seen as incomplete
- children are seen as proto-individuals (need socialising before they can become complete members of society)

Question 2

Evaluation of the dominant framework (AO3)

Answer 2

CAGE = childhood experience depends on class gender ethnicity

Children are not passive - they can be agents of their own lives

Gittens - age patriarchy, children controlled by adults

Question 3

Pilcher

Answer 3

Most important feature of childhood is ‘separateness’ - childhood is seen as a clear and distinct life stage

Laws and policies show this separateness = laws stopping children from drinking, smoking - we see them with toys, highlighting the difference

Childhood is seen as the ‘golden age’ of innocence. Children are dependent and adults should protect children from the explicit progress of this world

Question 4

Wagg

Answer 4

‘Separateness’ isn’t universal

Childhood is socially constructed, in particular societies there is no single concept of childhood

There are 2 reasons as to why childhood has been argued to be socially constructed:
1. Cross-cultural differences
2. Historical differences

Question 5

Cross-cultural comparisons

Answer 5

1. Responsibilities at an earlier age
   - children work in other societies and its seen as normal
   - ILO = 168 million child workers in 2012
   - in places in Africa and Asia, children work to contribute to HH income
2. Roles
   - children often act as carers. Around 175,000 children acted as carer according to the 2001 census
3. Child soldiers
   - 2012 = 300,000 child soldiers
   - 30 different countries have them
   - UN = children 10 and younger are sometimes used to fight
4. Children did not have to show obedience to adults
   - Samoa = children were not considered too young to do dangerous tasks
   - tikopia = not expected to be obedient

Question 6

Historical differences in childhood

Answer 6

Middle Ages:
Everyone worked together
Children dressed like their parents
Everyone was held responsible

Question 7

Aries - childhood is a social construction

Answer 7

Argues that childhood did not exist in the Middle Ages

High infant mortality rates
Low expectations of life
Large families
Children had little to no education
Children started work at age 6

Question 8

Shorter

Answer 8

Children in the Middle Ages were treated indifferent due to high death rates. Lack of emotional bonds

Child labour was common up until late 19th century (children were an economic asset, now they’re an economic liability)

Question 9

Aries - the development of modern childhood

Answer 9

17th century - growing difference in children’s and adults clothing

School - focusing on the education of the young (especially with religious influences)

18th century - handbooks on parenting became available, particularly MC

Question 10

Evaluation of Aries (AO3)

Answer 10

His work has been seen as value-laden - leading to him being over critical of medieval child rearing

Pollock - argues against Aries for saying childhood never existed. Instead says that childhood as a notion has changed

Question 11

Has the position of the child improved?

Answer 11

YES
The March of progress view - has improved dramatically

NO
The conflict view - still too much diversity between ethnicity, gender and class

Question 12

Aries about the position of the child

Answer 12

20th century has become the ‘Age of the child’ - family and society has become child centred.

Question 13

Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries?

Answer 13

Policies (children’s rights)
Romantic love
Compulsory education
Smaller families
Technological change
Decrease ion infant mortality rate and increase in divorce rate
Welfare State
‘Expert’ knowledge
Economics of children

Question 14

Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - romantic love

Answer 14

Shorter :
People began to marry for love rather than for children or financial security

As a result, children became seen as more important - products of a loving relationship

Question 15

Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - technological change

Answer 15

Postman :
Development of the printing press meant that adults increasingly required children to learn to read - a skill that is built up slowly, encouraged the idea that children were different from adults and needed education to become like adults

Question 16

Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - policies

Answer 16

Policies ensure that children are unable to take on aspects of adult roles
Ensure that childhood is a time of innocence which should be separate from the adult world

Industrial Revolution - child labour was common
1819 - children under 9 banned from work and older children limited to 12 hours a day

1889 prevention of cruelty to children act

Introduction of compulsory education - restricted work opportunities for children

Question 17

Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - the economics of children

Answer 17

The extension of the time that children were dependent on parents because they were prohibited from work made them transform from an economic asset to an economic liability.

This reinforces the idea that parents invest in their children

Question 18

Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - family size

Answer 18

Lower infant mortality rate and the high costs of raising children, parents concentrate their efforts on the well being of the small number of children they have, seeing them as needing nurture and protection

Chambers - there has been a shift from valuing children for their economic benefits to valuing them for emotional reasons

Question 19

Why has the position of the child improved since the Middle Ages according to Aries? - expert knowledge

Answer 19

Donzelot - existence of professionals who advocate theories of child development has influenced the nature of childhood - parenting advice is now spread through media

Question 20

Family sizes from 1860s - 2014

Answer 20

1860s - 5.7 births per woman
2014 - 1.8 births per woman

Question 21

Conflict view of childhood

Answer 21

Marxists and feminists argue differently

Argue that march of progress view of modern childhood ignores 2 inequalities:

1. Inequalities among children in terms of treatment
2. Inequalities between children and adults are greater - children experience more control by adults, not greater care

Question 22

Inequalities between children - the Mx view

Answer 22

Child Poverty Action Group - 3.9 million children in verity in 2014-15 and this significantly impacted their experience of childhood (EG for some it meant going hungry - couldn’t do what others could in terms of activities {lack of cultural capital. Could impact education})

Poverty impacts health of children = poor children more likely to get ill and have lower life expectancy (absence in school - fall behind)

Question 23

Inequalities between children - the Fem view

Answer 23

Boys and girls are not socialised in the same way - don’t share the same experiences

McRobbie = pre-teen boys have more freedom than pre-teen girls = parents worried about abduction os assault

Childhood is gendered: through independence and the tasks they do

Girls and boys have different amount of choice in what they can to, where they can go, free time

Question 24

Inequalities between children - ethnicity

Answer 24

Bhatti - more emphasis was placed on family honour and family responsibilities in the socialisation of children in Pakistani families than in white British families

Question 25

Firestone and Holt - inequalities of children

Answer 25

Many of the factors march of progress see as protection and care, is just another form of oppression and control - they make children more dependent

Question 26

Age patriarchy

Answer 26

Gittens - age patriarchy whereby adults dominate children through their age

Hockey and James - children want to escape modern childhood through:
Acting up - act like adults by doing things children aren’t supposed to do (swearing, smoking etc)
Acting down - behaving in wasps expected of younger children (baby talk)

Question 27

Sue Palmer - toxic childhood

Answer 27

Disagrees with the march of progress view - childhood is worse than in the past

Through junk food, computer games and long hours worked by parents which have damaged physical and intellectual development of children

Palmer attributes these problems to several factors:
Technological developments - parents have less control over access to the media
Family life has become less stable - parents have less time to spend with their children because of the pressures of work in dual-earner families

To detoxify childhood, parents need to reassert control

Question 28

Childhood is disappearing

Answer 28

Postman:
- Similarities in children’s and adult’s clothing
- Children committing ‘adult’ crimes such as murder and other violent crime

Postman blames this on the rise of television culture and mass media

Question 29

The information hierarchy

Answer 29

Postman:

Previous eras, only adults could access information whereas children couldn’t - this meany hat aspects of the adult world were kept secret from children

However, media has led to children seeing images (sexual and violent images) so they can understand through watching and listening rather than reading

Children can now learn anything from the media - childhood is no longer a time of innocence

Question 30

Criticisms of postman

Answer 30

Assumes children are passive recipients of media messages and h that they have little agency

Marsh (2010) - study on children who played club penguin and barbie girls - they were able to shape identities and communicate as well as expand their imagination

Question 31

Childhood in postmodernity

Answer 31

Jenks:
Agrees with postman that there is a concern about childhood

However he says childhood is NOT DISAPPEARING but CHANGING

Children are still highly regulated by legal restraint in many aspects of society (education, alcohol, political rights)

Childhood continues to be a separate status

Question 32

Childhood from pre-modern society to post modern society

Answer 32

Past society:
Children led similar lives to adults in terms of work and clothing. Didn’t change until Industrial Revolution

Modern society (early 20th century onwards):
For jenks, childhood is a creation of modern society. Children need to be nurtured - prepares them for future life

Post modern society:
Divorce more common - generates instability. However, for those adults, children were still a constant aspect

Question 33

Evidence to support sue palmers view on toxic childhood

Answer 33

2014 = 10% of British children were believed to have a mental health condition

Question 34

Evaluation of Postman and Palmer (AO3)

Answer 34

• too negative = health of children has improved and low infant mortality rates
• chambers - shift to a child centred society has benefited children = they are given more say in their own upbringing
• they are protected but still given more independence to construct their own identity - media crucial for integration