Childhood

• Childhood


  A biologically determined phase of life, before humans have reached maturity
• Childhood as we understand it is actually a social construct
• Childhood in Western Europe today

  • Distinctly separate from adulthood
  • Children are specially protected and regulated
  • Children have a separate set of rights and responsibilities from the adult population
• There is no straightforward line that separates childhood from adulthood in the UK
• Markers of adulthood in the UK

  • Remain in education/training until 18
  • Can drink alcohol, buy cigarettes at 18
  • Can get married, have sex, have children at 16
  • Can drive a car at 17
  • Must accept criminal responsibility from 10
• Before 1929, girls could be married at 12. Child marriage still happens in some countries
• The idea of childhood as a specially protected and privileged period of life is a feature for most (but not all) in Western Europe and North America today, but it is very far from a universal concept
• There is little agreement about what age someone stops being a child
• Medieval family portraits show children dressed the same as adults and working alongside them
• Aries' conclusion


  The cult of the child emerged with industrialisation<|>A cultural change occurred and children came to be seen as requiring care and being special and different from adults<|>The emerging housewife role came to include an important childcare role
• Aries argued that this child "cult" began as a middle-class phenomenon which gradually spread to other social classes
• Samantha Punch found that children in rural Bolivia were expected to take adult responsibilities from age 5
• The "march of progress" of childhood


  The experience of childhood has changed dramatically over time<|>Working-class children in 19th century Britain worked and lived in terrible conditions, were prone to many now preventable diseases, and often died young<|>Contemporary childhood has a functional fit with a modern industrial economy - people need to be more educated, and there is a need for lower infant mortality rates
• Infant mortality in 1901 was over 150 deaths per 1000, compared with 3.6 per 1000 in 2014
• Changes leading to more child-focused families

  Family sizes have shrunk, allowing more attention per child<|>Reduction in infant mortality means less "insurance" children<|>Child labour abolished, children became a financial burden rather than an asset
• Adults today focus on their children and relationships with them because they are seen as more dependable than adult relationships, and there is a focus on children's potential and importance for the future
• Laws restricting what children can do

  • Restrictions on access to alcohol and tobacco
  • Restrictions on sexual behaviour and other potentially dangerous activities
  • State can intervene and remove children from unfit parents
• Children often see childhood as an oppressive phase of life and wish to escape it
• Neil Postman's view - childhood is disappearing

  Television allows children to access adult topics and problems at a young age<|>The media sexualises children and presents them as having the same interests, concerns and problems as adults<|>There is a "childification" of adults, with the distinction between the two becoming blurred
• Social class and the experience of childhood

  Children in poverty have poor diet, housing, and higher incidences of abuse and neglect<|>Children of the very rich often have a different experience in boarding schools
• Ethnicity and the experience of childhood

  Black and mixed-race children more likely to be in care<|>Intersectionality - minority-ethnic groups more likely to be in lower income brackets<|>Asian parents often stricter with girls than boys
• Gender and the experience of childhood

  Parents often stricter with daughters than sons, particularly around freedom outside the home<|>This contributes to "bedroom culture" - boys out, girls at home<|>More expectations on girls to perform housework and domestic chores
• This topic relates to all the sociology core themes - the nature of childhood is interesting to different theoretical perspectives
• Families are the basic unit of society and they play an essential role in reproducing society by passing on cultural values to future generations
• Functionalists believe that families serve important functions such as socialisation, economic production, emotional support, and caring for dependents.
• Marxist feminists argue that women are oppressed within the family due to their reproductive roles and lack of control over resources.