childhood

• Changing Positions of Children in society


  • Laws restricting child labour and excluding children from paid work
  • From being economic assets who could earn a wage, children became an economic liability, financially dependent on their parents
  • Introduction of compulsory schooling
  • Child protection and welfare legislation
  • The growth of the idea of children's rights
  • Declining family size and lower infant mortality
  • Children's development (physically and mentally) became the subject of medical knowledge
  • Laws and policies that apply to specifically children
• Laws stopping child employment

  19th century
• Introduction of compulsory schooling

  1880
• Prevention of cruelty to children act

  1889
• UN convention of Children's Rights

  1989
• Parents have responsibilities rather than rights
• No punishment in schools
• The children's act defines parents as having 'responsibilities' rather than 'rights' in relation to children
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) lays down basic rights such as entitlement to healthcare and education,protection from abuse and the right to participate in decisions that affect them, such as custody cases
• Increase in child centredness
• Jacques Donzelot (1977) observes how theories of child development that began to appear from the 19th century stressed that children need supervision and protection
• Industrialisation (shift from agriculture to factory production as the basis of the economy) underlies many of the above changes
• 1948- start NHS
• 1906- School medicals and free school meals
• Conflict View


  Childhood has deteriorated
• Neil Postman


  • Disappearance of Childhood
  • Increasing TV and cinema leads to children growing up too quickly- children can lose their innocence too quickly
  • TV blurs the distinction between childhood and adulthood by destroying the information hierarchy
  • Adults and childrens tastes are becoming indistinguishable
• Sue Palmer


  • Toxic Childhood
  • Children are being harmed by a combination of technological and social changes
  • Resulted in harms such as higher obesity levels,reduced concentration and increased mental health problems
  • Increased screen based lifestyles, hyper competitive education system, decline of outdoor play and commercialisation of childhood
• Mayer Hillman


  • Gender differences
  • Boys are more likely to be allowed to cross or cycle on roads,use buses, and go out after dark unaccompanied
  • Boys have increased freedom
  • Children are not equal- social class,gender and ethnic differences affect their life chances
• Brannen/ Bhatti


  • Ethnic differences
  • Brannen's (1994)- study of 15-16 year olds found that Asian parents were more likely than other parents to be strict towards daughters
  • Batti (1999) found that ideas of izzat(family honour) could be restriction,particularly on the behaviour of girls
• Firestone


  • Oppression and control
  • 'Protection' from paid work is not a benefit to children but a form of inequality
  • It segregates children, making them more dependent, powerless and subject to adult control
• Diana Gittins


  • Age Patriarchy
  • There is an age patriarchy of adult domination and child dependency
  • Patriarchy refers to 'rule by the father' and the term 'family' referred originally to the power of the male head over all other members of the household, including children and servants as well as women
  • This power will still assert itself in the form of violence against both children and women
• Christopher Jenks


  • Childhood is changing not disappearing
  • Childhood was a creation of modern society- it was a preparation for the individual to become a productive adult in the future for this to be achieved
  • Many children needed to be nurtured and controlled by family and the education system
  • Relationships are becoming more unstable so children become a source of adults identity and security
  • Adults are becoming more fearful for their child's security and are more preoccupied with protecting them
• Aries & Shorter


  • March of Progress
  • Support view that childrens position has been improving - today they are valued, better cared for, protected and educated
  • Family and society have become child centred
  • Children are better cared for in terms of education,psychological and medical needs, more babies now survive, higher living standards and smaller family sizes mean parents can afford to provide for their childrens needs, children are protected from harm and exploitation by laws against child and abuse and child labour
• Carol Smart


  • New view aims to include the views and experiences of children themselves while they are living through childhood
  • Smart et al (2001)- found that, far from being passive victims children were actively involved in trying to make the situation better for everyone
  • Children lack power in relation to adults
• Mason & Tipper


  • Show how children actively create their own definitions of who is "family";- which may include people who are not 'proper' aunts or grandfather etc but who they regard as close
• Child centred families


  • Children dominate family life
  • Children rule the house
  • Anthony Giddens (sociologist) argued children should be the centre of the family
  • Went against the old fashioned view that 'children should be seen and not heard'
  • Now families are more democratic. Therefore, I can have their say
  • Having children is more like a friendship relationship but not parents and children
  • Parents are preoccupied with spending time with children
• 1975 - 25 mins a day
• 2001- 99 mins a day
• 1970 8/10 children walked to school, in 2012 5/10 (11 year old)
• 1960s- Government campaigns (Tv and Cinema)- about child safety
• 1980s- Establishment of 'Childline' for children in danger to ask for help
• Social construct


  A set of values/laws which is constructed by society
• Childhood can vary according to the time, the place/location, when/where you grow up
• In agrarian (pre-industrial) societies, young people carry out 'adults tasks'
• Younger people do not respect/obey elders just because of age
• Some societies allow young people sexual freedom to discover sex
• Aries(1960's) argues in Middle Ages young people were mini adults- What they wore, leisure activities, farming jobs- were the same
• Shorter(1970's) argues children are not seen as so significant by adults because of the high rate of infant mortality