The Future of Childhood
Topic 2: Childhood
- Created by: kathryn.a113
- Created on: 08-12-15 16:32
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- The Future of Childhood
- Disappearance of childhood (Neil Postman, 1994)
- 'disappearing at a dazzling speed'
- Children being given same rights as adults - similarities in clothing for children and adults, children committing 'adult' crimes (James Bulger)
- Information hierarchy - children learn to read and write from a young age which closes the gap between childhood and adulthood
- Illiteracy of children meant 'adult matters' -death, sex, money, violence- could be kept secret. Childhood = innocent + ignorant
- Rise of 'television culture'
- TV doesn't need special skills (reading, writing) to access it so the 'information hierarchy' is destroyed. Innocence replaced with cynicism
- HOWEVER - Postman emphasises TV as being the single cause. Doesn't mention living standers, laws protecting children etc.
- Separate Childhood Culture (Iona Opie, 1993)
- Childhood is not disappearing
- Games, toys, songs, meals made specifically for children - fuelled by consumerism
- A whole new culture of innocence, learning and play is being developed specifically for children
- Globalisation of Western Childhood
- Childhood of the Western world is oppressive and children are subject to adult authority
- Childhood is not disappearing, but being globalised - a separate lifestage based on the nuclear family. Children should be innocent, dependent and vulnerable
- EXAMPLE: Western charities against child labour reflect views on how we think childhood 'ought' to be. It is the norm of other cultures for children to work
- The Reconstruction of Childhood (Sue Palmer, 2006)
- UK tops international levels of obesity, self harm, drug/alcohol abuse, violence, early sexual experience, teen pregnancies: 21/25 for children's well being
- Children + adults with similar leisure activities and clothes, greater access to communiation
- HOWEVER: children today have more rights, but are not equal to adults, compulsory education makes childhood longer, adults remain concerned about exposure to sex and violence
- Disappearance of childhood (Neil Postman, 1994)
- Rise of 'television culture'
- TV doesn't need special skills (reading, writing) to access it so the 'information hierarchy' is destroyed. Innocence replaced with cynicism
- 'Toxic childhood' - technological and cultural changes over the last 25 years have damaged physical, emotional + intellectual development of children
- Junk food, computer games, marketing targeted at children, long parental working hours, educational testing all attribute to the destruction of childhood
- The Reconstruction of Childhood (Sue Palmer, 2006)
- UK tops international levels of obesity, self harm, drug/alcohol abuse, violence, early sexual experience, teen pregnancies: 21/25 for children's well being
- Children + adults with similar leisure activities and clothes, greater access to communiation
- HOWEVER: children today have more rights, but are not equal to adults, compulsory education makes childhood longer, adults remain concerned about exposure to sex and violence
- Falling birth/death rates cause an ageing population with less children. Jens Qcortrup, 1990: childhood more isolated as families become smaller, lack of children makes them more valued
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