Childhood

Front 1

The modern western idea of childhood - what does Jane pilcher argue?

Back 1

That the most important feature of childhood is separateness. This can be illustrated in several ways - laws regulating what children are allowed, required or forbidden to do. Their difference from adults is also illustrated in how they dress, especially for younger children and through products and services specially for children, such as toys food play areas.

Front 2

Historical differences in childhood - Philippe Aries (1960)?

Back 2

He argued that in pre-industrial society, children as we know them did not exist. Instead children were seen as 'little adults' who would take on adult responsibilities as young as 7 & 8. At this age children would be required to help out in productive activities in the household. Households at this time are more units of production than consumption. This means that now we go out of the home to go to work whereas back then the work was in the home. Also, children could be apprenticed out to learn a trade.

Front 3

What two factors did Aries argue that explains why society did not regard children as objects of love and devotion?

Back 3

• there was a very high level of infant mortality.

• life was very 'hand to mouth'. Children had to work in order for the family unit to survive, which in turn meant they were given adult responsibilities at a younger age.

Aries argues that the view of children as 'little adults' remained common well into the 19th century with young children frequently being employed to work in mines and factories.

However, around the middle of the 19th century, Aries argued that the IMR started to decrease with improvements to sanitation and diet. With the increasing affluence of the middle classes, the attitudes of MC parents started to change and children started to become regarded as objects of love and devotion. He also noted that the working classes tended to still view their children as little adults as WC families tended to be dependent on their children's income for survival.

Front 4

Reasons for the changes in the position/status of children?

Back 4

• Laws restricting child labour and excluding children from paid work. (Children became an economic liability by being financially dependent on their families rather than an economic asset)

• the introduction of compulsory schooling in 1880 had a similar effect. The raising of the school leaving age, and recent government policies to keep children in full time education or training until the age of 18 has extended this period of dependency.

• child protection and welfare legislation, such as the 1889 prevention of cruelty to children act.

• the growth of the idea of children rights.

• declining family size and lower IMR. This has encouraged parents to make a greater financial and emotional investment in the fewer children they now have.

• laws and policies that apply specifically to children, such as minimum ages for a wide range of activities from sex to smoking has reinforced the idea that children are different from adults and so different rules must be applied to their behavior.

Front 5

What does industrialization mean?

Back 5

The shift from agriculture to factory production as the basis of the economy.

Front 6

What is industrialization a key factor in?

Back 6

Bringing about the modern idea of children and the changed status of children.

Front 7

The march of progress argues that...

Back 7

Over the past few centuries, the position of children in western societies has been steadily improving and today is better than it has ever been. Writers such as Aries and Shorter hold a 'March of progress' view; they argue that today's children are more valued better cared for protected and educated, enjoy better health and have more rights than those of previous generations. For example, children today are protected from harm and exploitation by laws against child abuse and child labour, the family has become child centred with parents investing a great deal in their children emotionally as well as financially. However, conflict sociologists such as Marxists and Feminists dispute this. They argue that society is based on a conflict between different social groups such as social classes or genders. In this conflict, some groups have more power, status or wealth than others. Conflict sociologists see the relationship between groups as one of domination and subordination in which the dominant group act as oppressors.

Front 8

Conflict sociologists of the March of progress view of modern childhood

Back 8

They argue it is based on a false and idealized image that ignores important inequalities. They criticize the 'march of progress' view on two grounds:

• there are inequalities among children in terms of the opportunities and risks they face: many today remain unprotected and badly cared for.

• the inequalities between children and adults are greater than ever. Children today experience greater control, oppression and dependency, not greater care and protection.

Front 9

Inequalities among children.

Back 9

Not all children share the same status or experiences:

• children of different nationalities are likely to experience different childhoods and different life chances. 90% of the world's low birth weight babies are born in the third world.

• there are also gender differences between children. For example, according to Mayer Hillman (1993), boys are more likely to be allowed to cross or cycle on roads, use buses and go out after dark unaccompanied.

• ethnic differences/ Julia Brannen's (1994) study of 15-16 year olds found that Asian parents were more than likely than other parents to be strict towards their daughters.

• class differences between children. Poor mothers are more likely to have low birth weight babies which may delay physical and intellectual development. Also, according to Woodroffe, children from manual backgrounds are more likely to be hyperactive and suffer long standing illnesses than children of professionals.

Front 10

Child liberationists - inequalities between children and adults

Back 10

Child liberationists see the need to free children from adult control. This control takes a number of forms:

• neglect and abuse, either physical sexual or emotional

• controls over children's space - children are told to play in some areas and are forbidden to be in others such as some shops or hotels

• controls over children's time - adults in modern societies control children's daily routines including when they get up, eat, go to school, go to bed etc

• controls over children's bodies - including how they sit walk and run and what they wear, whether they can be picked up cuddled or even smacked.

Diana Gittins use the term age patriarchy to describe the inequalities between adults and children. Today this power may still assert itself in the form of violence against both children and women. For eg, according to Cathy Humphrey's and Ravi Thiara (2002) a quarter of the 200 women in their study left their abusing partner because they feared for their children. Such findings support Gittins view that patriarchy oppresses children as well as women.

However, critics of the child liberationist view argue that some adult control over children's lives is justified on the grounds that children cannot make rational decisions and so are unable to safeguard their interests themselves. Critics also argue that although children remain under adult supervision, they are not as powerless as the child liberationists claim. For eg, the 1989 children act and the United Nations convention on the rights of the child establish the principle that children have legal rights to be protected and consulted.

Front 11

The disappearance of childhood.

Back 11

Neil Postman (1994) argues that childhood is disappearing fast. He points to the trend towards giving children the same rights as adults, the growing similarity of adult and children's clothing and even to cases of children commuting adult crimes such as murder. In his view the cause of both of the emergence of childhood and now it's disappearance lies in the rise and fall of print culture and it's replacement of television culture. Televisions blurs the distinction between childhood and adulthood by destroying the information hierarchy. Unlike the printed world, TV doesn't need special skills to access it and makes information to both. Unlike Postman, Iona Opie (1993) argues that childhood is not disappearing. She constructed her research with her husband Peter and researched into children's games rhymes and songs for a lifetime. She argues there is strong evidence of the continued existence of a separate child's culture. Their findings contradict Postman's claim that children own unsupervised games are dying out. Their studies show that children can and do create their own independent culture separate from adults.

Front 12

Toxic childhoos

Back 12

Sue Palmer (2006). She argues rapid technological and cultural changes over the past 25 years has damaged children's physical emotional and intellectual development. Ranging from hunk good computer games and intensive marketing to children to the long hours worked by parents and he growing emphasis on testing in education. Julia Margo and Mike Dixon (2006) report that UK youth are at or near the top of international league tables for obesity self harm drug and alcohol abuse violence early sexual experience and teenage pregnancies. A UNICEF survey in 2007 ranked the UK 21/25 for children's well being.

An anxiety that the modern notion of childhood as an innocent and protected stage is under threat. Hard to draw conclusions because:

• not all kids affected. More likely to be those growing up on the poorer end of the social scale who live desperate lives.

• depends what aspect of childhood we look at. Some suggest the continuation of childhood as a separate age status while others say it may be disappearing or changing