The social construction of childhood
- Created by: Cody622
- Created on: 06-05-15 20:11
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- The Social construction of childhood
- Pre-industrial societies
- Young people used to take on adult responsibilities from an early age e.g. Work (Punch has found that children start work from age 5 in rural Bolivia today)
- Children were not expected to take orders from adults. (Holmes has found that in Samoa today children don't get told what to do by adults)
- There was no age of consent. Children became sexually active from an early age.
- Philippe Aries: Childhood as a separate phase did not exist in medieval times
- "Little Adults" - Did adult jobs and wore adult style clothes.
- Children who could not contribute in poor families were abandoned by age 6
- Most households had one room: children were not protected from "adult secrets"
- The Emergence of Childhood
- 1600's: Religious belief that children were vulnerable to bad behavior because their souls had not fully developed.
- Corporal punishment - the origin between adults and children (beat the devil out of the child)
- 1700's: First books on childcare - aim towards child centered households among some of the middle class
- Aries: Argues that religious and moral reasoning for protecting children emerged in Victorian times
- Also a concern about street crime among kids.This led to the creation of Childhood as a legal status.
- 1600's: Religious belief that children were vulnerable to bad behavior because their souls had not fully developed.
- Changes in the 20th century.
- Compulsory secondary schooling 1944 and an extension of the period young people stay in education.
- From September 2015 everyone has to be in some form of full time education or training until age 18
- Laws to guarantee child protection e.g. Children's Acts 1969 and 1989
- Parents rearing of children is now monitored through legislation such as the 1991 Child support Act.
- In the event of a divorce children also have a say in which parent they live with (1989 children's act)
- The child's support act 1991 requires absent parent to give financial aid
- Parents rearing of children is now monitored through legislation such as the 1991 Child support Act.
- Legal Rights for children.
- "The child that is hungry must be fed"
- "The child that is sick must be nursed"
- "The child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress
- Fall in the birth rate and infant mortality rate has led to greater investment and emotional support being given to fewer children
- Greater professional and academic interest in child development e.g. social workers and psychologists
- Compulsory secondary schooling 1944 and an extension of the period young people stay in education.
- Pre-industrial societies
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