childhood

• globalisation of western cultures

  -some sociologists argue western notions of childhood being globalised

  -international humanitarian aid & welfare agencies have exported & imposed western childhood on rest of world

  -ignores different culture's norms
• how children were treated like adults - aries

  -similar responsibilities

  -work began at early age

  -no differences in legal rights

  -parental attitudes very different to what are today
• reasons for change in position of children - Aries

  -child labour laws

  -compulsory schooling

  -growth in children's rights

  -child protection & welfare legislation

  -declining family size & infant morality rate

  -medical interest in child development
• Postman - childhood disappearing (1994)

  -shift from print culture to television culture

  -cause of change in childhood
• print culture

  -printed word main form of communication

  -Postman argued in Middle Ages many were illiterate, speech main form of communication

  -printing press invented > info communicated through books & newspapers

  -adult literacy improved

  -Postman argued childhood emerged along with print culture & mass literacy
• why did Postman argue childhood emerged along with print culture?

  -printed word created division between those who could read & who couldn't yet (children)
• television culture

  -TV main form of communication

  -Postman argues shift towards TV culture to blame for disappearing childhood

  -new technologies soften the division

  -children enter 'adult world' without learning to read
• television culture

  -TV is the main form of communication
• why did Postman argue television culture led to disappearing childhood?

  -Postman argues shift towards TV culture to blame for disappearing childhood

  -new technologies soften the division

  -children enter 'adult world' without learning to read

  -information hierarchy no longer exists

  -children can learn 'adult matters' from young age
• strengths of Postman (1994)

  -other trends / changes in society also support the trend that childhood is disappearing
• criticisms of Postman (1994)

  -over emphasis on television culture

  -only looks at one dimension of childhood

  -ignores way in which childhood isn't disappearing
• contradictory evidence of Postman (1994) - Opie

  -evidence of a continuation of seperate children's culture

  -children's nursery rhymes, games & songs
• Jenks (2005) - postmodernist view on childhood

  -believed childhood emerged in modern society (like Aries & Postman)

  -disagrees with Postman's ideas that childhood disappearing

  -argues in postmodernist society children more vulnerable & protected from world than ever

  -relationships much less stable
• paranoid parenting

  -as result of technological changes, adults preoccupied with children's safety

  -even greater surveillance & regulation
• march of progress view

  Aries believes children in todays society are

  -more valued

  -more protected

  -better educated

  -healthier
• toxic childhood

  -Palmer believes techological & cultural changes have damaged children's physical, mental & emotional development

  -6 ways childhoods becoming toxic
• ways childhood is becoming toxic - Palmer


  -decline of outdoor play > less independence & self reliance

  -commercialisation of childhood > exploited by advertisers

  -schoolification > less time to play before school starts

  -shortened attention spans > reduction in a capacity to communicate

  -screen saturation > reduces face to face interaction & increases anxiety

  -testing & target children > under pressure to perform
• Firestone & Holt - inequalities (children & adults)

  -March of Progresses examples of protection & care really forms of oppression & control

  -child liberationists
• Hillman - inequalities between children


  -1993

  -boys more likely to be allowed to go out after dark unaccompanied
• Bonke - inequalities between children


  -1999

  -girls do more domestic work

  -especially in single parent households

  -5x more housework than boys
• Brannen - inequalities between children


  -1994

  -asian parents stricter to their daughters
• the new sociology of children

  -sociology of children risks seeing children from an 'adultist' pov

  -this ideology doesn't see children as 'adults in the making'

  -active agents playing role in creating their own childhood
• Smart (2011)


  -sociologists need to take views & experiences of children into account
• Mason & Tipper


  -children define family different to parents

  -doesn't conform to 'adult' ideas