Overall

• What do sociologists argue childhood is?

  a social construct and a biological stage
• Why are children different to adults?

  In their values, behaviour and attitudes
• Why is childhood different in other parts of the world?

  Childhood is not universal
• How can people view childhood

  Different societies with different cultures and values can view childhood in different ways
• When can you leave education?

  It has changed from age 12 to 18 in the lest century. It is now not only socially unacceptable it is also illegal to leave school and work fulltime at 12
• What is the minimum legal age for marriage?

  It rose to 16 in 1929 - before that girls could be married at 12 and boys at 14 - you did need parents permisson in England and Wales
• Why do children have different rights and duties compared to adults?

  Children are regulated and protected by special laws
• What did Jane Pilcher highlight about childhood?

  That childhood separated you from other life phases
• What laws are children subjected too?

  That restrict their sexual behaviour, their access to alcohol and tobacco and the amount of paid work they can do
• What is the Children's Act 1989?

  It allows the state to take children away from their parents if they are judged to be incapable or unsuitable
• What do the NSPCC argue (laws) ?

  That children need greater protection. A report by Cawson et al (2000) said that 16% of children under 16 have experienced sexual abuse, and 25% have experienced physical violence
• What do Child Liberationists believe?

  That society oppresses children, some view the increased protection of children and their separation from adult life as oppressive
• What does Diana Gittins argue (Child Liberationists)

  That there is an 'age patriarchy) - adults maintain their authority over children. They achieve this using enforced dependency through protection from paid employment., legal controls over what children can and cant do and in some cases abuse and neglect
• What do Hockey and James suggest (Child Liberationists)

  They noted that childhood was a stage most children wished to escape from and which they resisted
• What is British society said to be today?

  Child-focused
• What is the United Convention on the rights of a child (1990)

  Children are recognised as having unique human rights by every country apart form Somalia and the USA
• What is the Child support Act 1991?

  They established the Child Support Agency (CSA) which gave children the legal right to be financially supported by their parents, whether the parents are living with the child or not. This act also made courts have to ask for a child POV in custody cases and take the child’s view into consideration
• What is meant by pester power?

  Advertisers recognise the financial power of children so they advertise a product to children because they know they will pester their parents to buy the product
• What is pester power similar too (analysis)

  similar to the Marxist view that the family is a unit of consumption