Children

• Childhood


  A socially constructed concept that varies across time and cultures
• Childhood (in modern Western societies)

  • Seen as a distinct life stage
  • Children are physically and psychologically immature
  • Children need a protected period of nurturing and socialisation before adulthood
• The modern Western notion of childhood emphasises the separateness of children from adults</b>
• Ways childhood separateness is emphasised

  • Regulating what children are allowed, required or forbidden to do
  • Differences in dress, especially for younger children
  • Products and services especially for children (toys, food, books, entertainment, play areas)
• Childhood as a 'golden age of happiness and innocence'


  Children are seen as vulnerable and in need of protection from the adult world
• The view of childhood as a separate life stage is not found in all societies
• Childhood is socially constructed and varies across cultures and time periods
• Cross-cultural differences in childhood

  • Children take on responsibilities at an earlier age
  • Less value placed on children's obedience to adult authority
  • More tolerance of children's sexual behaviour
• Western notions of childhood are being globalised through international agencies and campaigns
• The modern concept of childhood is a relatively recent historical development
• In the Middle Ages, children were seen more as 'mini-adults' rather than a distinct life stage
• Parental attitudes towards children in the Middle Ages were more indifferent and neglectful due to high child mortality rates
• Elements of the modern cult of childhood began emerging from the 16th century onwards
• The 20th century has been described as 'the century of the child'
• Childhood is socially constructed and its position has changed over time due to factors like industrialisation, compulsory schooling, child protection laws, and declining family size
• Childhood is likely to continue changing in the future as society itself changes
• Childhood


  A separate status from adulthood, with different rules and expectations applied
• Laws and policies apply specifically to children, such as minimum ages for a wide range of activities from sex to smoking
• Industrialisation


  • Shift from agriculture to factory production as the basis of the economy
  • Requires an educated workforce, leading to compulsory schooling
  • Higher standards of living and better welfare provision, leading to lower infant mortality rates
• Childhood continues to change in the future as society itself changes, for example from modern to postmodern society
• Postman's view: Childhood is 'disappearing at a dazzling speed'


  • Trend towards giving children the same rights as adults
  • Disappearance of children's traditional unsupervised games
  • Growing similarity of adults' and children's clothing
  • Children committing 'adult' crimes such as murder
• Cause of emergence and disappearance of childhood

  Rise and fall of print culture and its replacement by television culture
• Print culture


  Created an information hierarchy, with a sharp division between adults who can read and children who cannot
• Television culture


  Blurs the distinction between childhood and adulthood by destroying the information hierarchy
• The counterpart of the disappearance of childhood is the disappearance of adulthood, where adults' and children's tastes and styles become indistinguishable
• Similarities between children's and adults' leisure, dress and food

  • Not provided
• Opie argues that childhood is not disappearing, based on research into children's unsupervised games, rhymes and songs
• Postman over-emphasises television as the sole cause of changes in childhood, ignoring other factors
• Jenks' view: Childhood is changing, not disappearing


  • Modern society saw childhood as a preparation for adulthood, with children needing to be nurtured, protected and controlled
  • Postmodern society sees relationships with children as a source of adults' identity and stability, leading to greater surveillance and regulation of children's lives
• Evidence for and against Jenks' view is limited
• Childhood is socially constructed and varies across times, places and cultures
• March of progress view

  The position of children in western societies has been steadily improving over the past few centuries, and is better than it has ever been
• Improvements in the position of children

  • Better protection from harm and exploitation
  • Increased government spending on education
  • Better healthcare and higher standards of living, leading to lower infant mortality rates
  • Smaller family sizes and more child-centred families
• Some writers suggest that children in the UK today are experiencing 'toxic childhood' due to rapid technological and cultural changes
• Conflict view


  • Society is based on a conflict between different social groups, with some groups having more power, status or wealth than others
  • The march of progress view ignores important inequalities between children and between children and adults
• There are inequalities among children in terms of the opportunities and risks they face, with many remaining unprotected and badly cared for
• There are inequalities between children and adults, with children experiencing greater control, oppression and dependency, not greater care and protection
• Inequalities among children


  • Gender differences in freedom and domestic labour
  • Ethnic differences in parental strictness, particularly towards daughters
  • Class differences in birth weight and intellectual development
• Statistics on children who were the subject of a child protection plan in England in 2013 show significant numbers of cases of neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse
• Difficulties in defining emotional abuse and limitations in the accuracy of child abuse statistics