childhood basic

• child centredness - fewer children, less siblings
• age patriarchy - unequal treatments by adults
• childhood changes

  preindustrial society 

  • Historian, Aries said children were known as ‘little adults’ who took part in the same work activities as adults
  •   toys for children didn't exist
  •   children were an economic asset (children contributed money by working)
• childhood changes

  during industrialisation 

  • working class kids worked in factories, mills, mines - Child labour acts stopped this as many children died and education became compulsory until 18 so there was less time to work
  • middle class were stable enough to not send their children to work - IFR dropped 
• childhood changes

  10th / 21st century 

  • emergence of a child centred society, children are special and in need of care and protection
  • birth rate dropped as children became expensive due to child labour acts, families became smaller
  • improved nutrition dropped IFR in late 19 century
  • in some poorer countries, children are still less distinct from adults
• reasons for changes of positions in children

  1. child labour laws
  2. compulsory education until 18
  3. child protection and welfare legislation 
  4. children’s rights
  5. smaller family sizes, lower ifr rates
  6. other laws and policies applying to children 
• Hood - williams

  • control over children’s bodies - what they wear, how they walk, run, sit 
• Palmer 2006

  • says children are experiencing a toxic childhood - in the past 25 years, rapid technological and cultural changes meant children’s physical, intellectual, emotional development were damaged
  • changes include video games, IT, junk food, computer games, intensive marketing, longer working hours, and growing emphasis on education testing
• Child liberationism - children should be freed from adults control

  Hockey + James - children will either respond to adult control by:

  1.   'act up' - behaving older than their age, more independant - ‘may say a really bad swear word'
  2.   'act down' - dependent, behaving younger - reverts to baby behaviour by insisting on being carried all the way home

  critics

  • adult control can be justified for children’s safety
  • children can remain under adult supervision, but are still less powerful than what child liberationists daim eg 1989 children act (children can report abuse)
• Postman

  • childhood is disappearing due to the rise of mass media
  • eg tv and internet
  • these give children easy access to adult ideas (eg sex, violence, death)which blurs lines between childhood and adulthood
• Jenks

  • childhood is not disappearing, but changing
  • still seen as a separate life stage
  • modern society invests more in children (eg child protection laws, education, health care)
• Brooks - cotton wool parenting

  • parents are becoming protective of their children
  • eg not letting them go out alone, giving high supervision
  • suggests childhood is being prolonged, not disappearing
• Gittens - age patriarchy

  • criticised idea of childhood disappearance
  • adults have power over children showing that children are still seen as different, needing control and protection - opposes childhood disappearance