Changes in the position of children

• Industrialisation

  Some sociologists agree that the process of industrialisation underlies many of the changes in the position of children. E.g. Modern industry needs an education workforce and requires compulsory schooling of the young.
• Industrialisation

  The higher standards of living and better welfare provision lowers infant morality rates. Industrialisation is a key factor in bringing the modern idea of childhood and the changed status of children.
• March of Progress View

  This view argues that the position of children has improved. Aries and Shorter argue that children today are more valued, better cared for, protected and educated. The family is more child centred. Children are no longer to be 'seen and not heard'.
• Higher standards of living

  • Better education/socialisation, women are working - dual earning couples, more income that is being spent on children (clothes, toys) this makes the child's childhood happier
  • Bigger and better housing. By a child's 21st birthday, £227,000 is spent on that child.
• Smaller family sizes

  • More money and attention is spent per child with a smaller family. Children are treated with more respect.
  • Infant morality rates are lower. 1900 - 154 per 1,000 children died. 2014 - 4 per 1,000 children died.
  • 1860s - 5.7 births per women. 2014 - 1.83 births per woman.
• Palmer - Toxic Children

  Palmer 2006 argues that rapid technological and cultural changes in te past 25 years had damaged children's physical, emotional and intellectual development.
• Toxic childhood

  • Technology stops children from going out and socialising in person
  • Cyberbullying
  • Parents are more afraid to let their children out
  • Vaping is culturally accepted, affecting physical health
• Palmer's findings

  Children's attention is poorer and language is limited. ADHD, Autism and dyslexia is more common. Mental conditions increase by 25% each year. Children watching TV alone were more susceptible to watch something inappropriate.
• Margo and Dixon

  They reported that the UK youth are near the top of the international league for obesity, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, early sexual experience and teenage pregnancies. These concerns reveal an anxiety that the modern notion of childhood as an innocent and protected stage is under threat.
• The Conflict View

  Conflict sociologists argue that the march or progress view of modern childhood is based on false and idealised images that ignore important inequalities such as, Inequalities among children and inequalities between children and adults.
• Inequalities among children

  Not all children have the same status. Differences exist between children of different sexes or ethnic groups. Children born into poorer families are more likely to die in infancy or childhood.
• Inequalities between children and adults

  Firestone 1979 and Holt 1974 see the things that the march or progress see positively as care and protection is actually forms of oppression and control. Firestone argues that 'protection' from paid work is not a benefit to children, but a form of inequality. It is a way of segregating children and subjecting them to adult control.
• Form of control - neglect and abuse

  This can take extreme forms such as physical, sexual or emotional abuse. In 2013, 43,000 children were subject to child protection plans. Childline receives over 20,000 calls a year from children. these figures indicate the 'dark side' of the family.
• Control over space

  Children's movement's are highly regulated. 1971 - 86% of primary school children were allowed to walk home alone. This dropped to 25% in 2010. Cunningham argued that 'home habit' exists - Children were only allowed in certain places of the house.
• Control over time

  Adults control children's daily routines and the speed at which they 'grow up', telling children if they are 'too old or too young' for something. Holmes finding among Samoans, 'too young' is never given as a reason for not letting a child partake in a certain task.
• Control over bodies

  Adults control what children wear, how they sit or walk. Parents allow children to be picked up, cuddled and kissed by certain people, children may even be smacked when disciplined. Parents also control how children touch their own bodies - picking their nose.
• Control over access to resources

  Laws excluding children from work, child benefits go to the parent not the child, pocket money - dependent on good behaviour and their may be restrictions on what they spend their pocket money on.
• Reasons for changes in the position of children

  • Laws restricting child labour + excluding children from paid work
  • Introduction of compulsory schooling - 1880
  • Child protection + welfare legislation - 1889 prevention of cruelty to children act, 1989 children act - social services
• Reasons for changes in the position of children

  • Growth of the idea of children's rights - UNCRC 1989
  • Declining family sizes and lower infant morality rates - encouraged parents to make greater financial investment in fewer children
  • Children's development became the subject of medical knowledge - Donzelot observes theories of child development, She stressed that children need supervision and protection
• Children act 1989


  Children are the best cared for within their own families. It made a promise to every child that their best interests would be the first consideration in decision made about their healthcare.
• UN convention on the rights of a child 1989

  The 4 central principles of the UNCRC

  • Non-discrimination
  • The best interests of the child
  • Right to life and development of the child
  • They have the right to be heard