Childhood

• Pilcher- Sepratism

  • Seperateness
  • Childhood is seen as a clear and distinct life stage
  • Children in society occupy a seperate status from adults
  • How is this emphasised?
  • Laws and regulations
  • Differences in dress
  • Products and services
  • What does the 'golden age' of happiness and innocence mean?
  • Children seen as vulnerable
  • Must be kept 'quarantined' and seperated from the dangers of the adult world so adults provide for for them from outside world
• Difference between western cultures' perception of children compared to other cultures:

  • Western: Children defined as vulnerable and unable to fend for themselves
  • Other cultures: Don't necessarily see such a great difference between children and adults
• Benedict (1934) children in simpler societies

  • take responsibility at an early age - Punch's (2001) study of childhood in Bolivia, children expected to take on work in the home
  • Less value is placed on children showing obedience to adult authority, doing as you are told by an adult is regarded as a privalege to be granted by the child, not a right to be expected by the adult so childhood is more socially constructed and less difference in behaviour expected from kids to adults
• • Reasons for changes in the position of children
  • Laws restricting child labour and excluding children from paid work
  • Introduction of compulsory schooling
  • Child protection and welfare legislation
  • Growth of the idea of children's rights
  • Declining family size and lower infant mortality rate
  • Children's development became the subject of medial knowledge
  • Laws and policies that apply specifically to children
  • Industrialisation
• • Postman's (1994) cause for the emergence and dissapearance of childhood:
  • The rise and fall of print culture and its replacement by television culture
  • Most people were illiterate, thus speech was the only skill needed to participate in the adult world
  • Children were able to enter adult society from a young age
  • Childhood not associated with innocence, adult world not associated with mystery
• Postman 2

  • Information hierarchy, creates a sharp division between adults who can talk and kids who can’t, this have adults the power to keep knowledge of sex, money death from kids
  • television disrupted this, it doesn’t require special skills to access, so boundary between adults and kids broken down, adults authority diminishes
• jenks and childhood in postmodernity

  • doesnt believe childhood is disappearing, believes it’s changing
  • Due to more unstable relationships a feeling of insecurity has been generated
  • therefore adults relationships with their children become more important as a source of adults indentity
  • constant uncertainty has adults become more fearful for childrens security so this shows children are vulnerable
• March of Progress Review

  • Childhood has been improving in western society
  • improvement such as protection from child labour+ exploitation, better healthcare+education
  • More childcentered fam- 1 child costs 277,000 by 21, children focal point of fam, parents invest in children
  • toxic childhood causes, junk food, computer games, intenisve marketing leads to kids damages physical, emotional development
• Conflict view- Marxists+fem 


  Inequalities among children

  • gender diffs- HILLMANS, boys more likely to go out at night unaccompanied, BONKE, girls do 5x more housework than boys in lone parent fam
  • ethnic diff- BRANNEN, Asians parents more likely to be more strict to daughters
  • class inequalities, poor mothers likely to have low birth weight babies leading to delayed intellectual+physical development, children in poorer dams likely to fall behind in school, be placed in child protection, die earlier
  • CANT SPEAK AS CHILDREN AS EQUAL THEY HAVE DIFFS
• Conflict view- Marxs+fem 2

  inequalitites between children+ adults

  • HOLT, argues that care and protection of kids is Just a form of oppresiom+control
  • e.g protection from paid work is a form of inequality making them more dependent and powerless
  • child liberatonism needs to be achieved cause adults control kids suxh as neglect+abuse, controls over kids space, time, bodies
  • Age patriachy, GITTINS, adults dominate and kids dependent, patriarchy as well, 50/200 women left their husbands in fear for their kids lives, patriachy opresses women as well as kids
• Conflict Theory- Marx’s+fem 3

  • HOCKNEY AND JAMES, strat used by children to resist their status and the restrictions that go with being a child e.g smoking, drinking
  • conclude that modern childhood is a status that most child’s want to escape

  Criiscms for child lib

  • some adults controls kids lives is justified as Kids can’t make own rational decisions so can’t safeguard themselves
  • children’s arent as powerful as they claim