Famillies and Households- Childhood
- Created by: Lucy Sparling
- Created on: 07-01-13 13:20
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- Childhood
- Western Notion
- childhood see as separate 'golden age' of happiness and innocence
- Child centeredness
- Children are seen as vulnerable and need protecting by laws
- Childhood as a Social Construction
- Socially Constructed
- something that is created and defined by society
- Cross Cultural differences
- Bolivia- children work from 5 years old in home and community
- 300,000 under 18 child soldiers across the world
- Children's sexual behaviour varies in Trobriad
- Evaluation- some children don't seem to have childhood suggesting that the notion of childhood is a social construction
- Historical Differences
- Aries (1960)- 10th- 13th Century
- same laws applied to children and adults
- dressed similar
- Child games didn't exist
- Children simply 'mini adult'
- HOWEVER
- Linda Pollock (1983)- society simply had a different notion of childhood NOT that it didn't exist
- Aries didn't complete primary research and relied on paintings and stories
- Aries (1960)- 10th- 13th Century
- Reasons for change in position in 19th- 20th century
- child labour laws
- Compulsory schooling and raising of school leaving age
- Child protection legislation- Rights of the child 1989
- Minimum age laws
- Other Reasons
- Lower infant and child mortality rates
- Impact of the mass media
- Socially Constructed
- Has the position improved
- March of progress
- March of progress
- protected from abuse
- More child centred
- Media and leisure activities
- :( idealised image of childhood- ignores 'dark side' of childhood
- Conflict View
- Inequalities between children
- Gender differences- girls do more domestic labour
- Ethnic differences- Asian parents overly strict
- Class differences- Marxists-poorer w/c higher infant mortality and do less well at school
- International differences- childhood and life chances
- Inequalities between children and adults
- Liberationists- Firestone(1979) claim adults use power to protect children- AGE PATRIARCHY
- Space and time-- restricting where children can go
- Time- control daily routines
- Bodies- control how children look
- 'Dark side'- neglect and abuse
- :( adult intervention and control is necessary- to safe guard children who are not mature enough to make rational decisions
- Inequalities between children
- March of progress
- Future of childhood
- Disappearance
- Postman (1994)- children growing up too quickly and losing their innocence
- Disappearance of supervised games
- Growing similarity of clothing
- children committing 'adult crimes'
- underage sex, smoking and drinking
- Palmer (2006)-Toxic childhood
- Postman (1994)- children growing up too quickly and losing their innocence
- Reasons for Disappearance
- Postman- technology and media eroded boundary between children and adulthood
- :( not all children are equally affected by above- lower social class and poorer social groups
- Postman- technology and media eroded boundary between children and adulthood
- NOT Disappearing
- Opie (1993)- children still have their own independent separate culture
- Lierationists
- oppressive western patterns of children are spreading throughout the world
- International agencies campaign for separate childhood
- Disappearance
- Western Notion
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