childhoos

    Cards (28)

    • Social construction
      A social phenomena is not naturally occurring but instead is created by society and varies from culture to culture
    • Biological determination

      Something including social phenomena is regulated by biology
    • Childhood
      The period of time that a person is considered to be a child
    • Childhood is a clear and distinct life stage, reflected in laws, dress, products and services, age of innocence, activity
    • Children have not yet reach physical maturity. They have not yet reached puberty or sexual maturity, however full development doesn't end until mid 20's
    • Psychological development continues into the mid 20's
    • Children
      Simple and amoral. See the world in black and white, only really concerned with themselves and don't look at the impact on others
    • Adults
      Complex and moral. Able to see the world in shades of grey looking at multiple view points and have developed a moral compass for decision making
    • Cultural relativity
      Childhood varies from culture to culture and within cultures itself
    • Responsibilities and freedoms of children vary across cultures
    • Historical relativity
      Childhood has changed over time and what we now consider to be childhood is a modern construction
    • Sexual maturity
      Reached in adolescence, but full development doesn't end until mid 20's
    • Psychological immaturity
      Psychological development continues into the mid 20's
    • Dominate framework: James and Prout

      • Children are simple and amoral, see the world in black and white, only really concerned with themselves and don't look at the impact on others
      • Adults are complex and moral, able to see the world in shades of grey looking at multiple view points and have developed a moral compass for decision making
    • Evidence of cultural relativity

      • Intra cultural differences - in particular class differences
      • Inter cultural differences - responsibilities and freedoms (Firth Tikopia Tribe, Punch - Bolivia, Milinowski - Trobriand Island)
    • Evidence of historical relativity
      • Pre-industrial era - children were considered mini adults with little variation in games, toys, clothing and culture, children would work as soon as they were able
      • Industrial era - start of the modern concept of childhood, but children still worked in factories, treated the same as adults in the criminal justice system, development of child protection laws
      • Modern era - childhood is protected time of innocence and dependency which can last until late teens or early 20's, children have a distinct separate culture to adults including toys, games and clothing
    • Sensible analytical approach
      Different stages of development are more likely to be a social construction than others - infancy/toddlers not a social construction due to complete dependency, 5-12 age group could be considered a social construction, 13+ age group more than likely a social construction
    • March of progress view

      • The position of children in western societies has been steadily improving and today is better than it has ever been
    • Evidence of march of progress
      • Legal - work restrictions, compulsory education, safeguarding in schools, juvenile vs adult legal systems
      • Rights of the child - UN rights of the child including right to life, survival and development, protection from violence, abuse or neglect, education, relationship with parents, expression of opinions
      • Protections and welfare services - UK minister for children and families, social services to protect children and support families
      • Child centeredness - quality over quantity, decisions made with best interests of child in mind
    • Conflict view
      • Children still experience conflict in society, different children will have different experiences of childhood so some will be better than others
    • Intra-child conflict and inequality
      • Gender - boys given more freedom, girls socialised into bedroom culture
      • Ethnicity - ethnic groups have different expectations and responsibilities for children
      • Class - poor children more likely to have lower birth weight, die in infancy, suffer illness, be shorter, fall behind in school, be on child protection list
    • Child liberationist view
      Childhood has become oppressive with adults using the excuse of protection to limit children's activities and create a culture of dependency
    • Ways children are controlled by adults
      • Resources - compulsory education, child benefit to parents not children, pocket money
      • Space - specific areas where children can play, shops restricting/banning children
      • Time - strict daily routines, control over when children eat, sleep, watch TV, grow up
      • Bodies - control over how children sit, walk, dress, touch themselves
    • Toxic childhood thesis
      • Rapid technological and cultural changes have damaged children's health, emotional and psychological development
    • Disappearing childhood thesis
      • Childhood as we know it is disappearing at a rapid rate due to the collapse of the information hierarchy - children have much more access to information and ways to participate in the adult world, children given the same rights as adults, blurring of adult and child culture
    • Evaluation of disappearing childhood thesis
    • Universal childhood
      • Western notion of childhood is spreading around the world - campaigns for universal education, charities focused on helping street children and preventing child labour, globalised TV and media
    • New sociology of childhood
      • Current studies of childhood have been outside looking in and rarely include children in their data collection, need to include children and focus on the present tense of childhood from a child's perspective, children are active agents playing a major part in creating their own childhoods
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