Families and Households 1.6- Childhood

Childhood is partly a social construct:

1. sociologists says that childhood is not only a biological stage in development but a social construct. The idea that children are different from adults in their values, behaviour and attitudes isn’t the same everywhere in the world. It is not universal, some cultures view childhood in different ways

An example of this is how the school leaving age in Britain has moved form 12 to 16 in the last century. It would now be socially unacceptable, but also illegal to leave school and work full-time at the age of 12. The age that childhood ends and adulthood begins has changed with social attitudes

PANE PILCHER (1995) highlighted separateness of childhood from other life phases. Children have different rights and duties from adults, and are regulated and protected by special laws

ARIÈS says a cult of childhood developed after industrialisation

-Said the concept of childhood in Western European society has only existed in the last 300 years. Before this, in medieval society a child took on the role of an adult as soon as they were physically able. Children in medieval paintings look like small adults.

-With industrialisation social attitudes began to value children as needing specialised care and nurturing. The importance of the child reinforced the importance of the role of the housewife, it was the housewives job to look after the children.

-This cult of the child first developed in the middle classes and over time has become a part of working class values

Children are protected by special laws

1. Children are subject to laws that restrict their sexual behaviour, their access to alcohol and tobacco, and the amount they are paid for work. These laws are less of that, that affect adults
2. Offered extra protection through the Child Act 1989, which allows them to be taken away from their parents if the state judges them unsuitable/incapable
3. Price reductions on goods and services, e.g. less on public transport, and not paying VAT on clothes
4. The NSPCC argue that they need greater protection. A NSPCC report by CAWSON et al (2000) said that 16% of children under 16 have experienced sexual abuse during childhood, and 25% experienced physical violence

British society in the 21st century is more focused on children

1. There is a lot of social policy related to childhood, children are recognised as having unique human rights. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child was ratified in 1990 by all the UN members- EXCEPT USA and SOMALIA
2. In Britain the Child Support Act 1991 established the child support agency. Giving children the legal right to be financially supported by parents, where they live with them or not. The act makes courts take children points of view into custody cases and consider their point of view.
3. Children also hold more power in modern British society than at any other time in history. It has been identified by advertisers who recognise the financial power of children, which is referred to as pester power. Advertisers use products that children will pester their parents for, until they buy them

FUNCTIONALISTS see the position of children in society as a sign of progress

SHORTER makes the march of progress argument:

-Society has a functional need for better educated citizens, and lower infant mortality rates

-School leaving ages have gone up and child protection has improved

-The current position of children is the result of positive progression

Childhood varies according to gender, class and ethnicity

1. children in poverty tend to suffer poorer health, a lack of basic necessities, lower achievement in school, poorer life chances and higher incidences of neglect and abuse
2. JUNE STATHAM and CHARLIE OWENS (2007) found that black and dual heritage children were more likely to end up in care, than white or asian children
3. JULIA BRENNEN (1994) said that asian families were much stricter with their daughters than sons
4. HILLMAN (1993) found boys are generally given more freedom by their parents than girls

CHILD LIBERATIONIST believe that society oppresses children

DIANA GITTINS (1985) argues that there is an age patriarchy, adults maintain authority over children. The achieve this using enforced dependency through protection from paid employment , legal controls over what children can and can’t do

HOCKEY and JAMES (1993) noted that childhood was a stage that most children wished to escape from snd which many resisted

Sociologists disagree over future of childhood

NEIl POSTMAN (1994)

Childhood is disappearing, children grow up very quickly and experience things only open to adults in the past, argues out definitions of childhood and adulthood will change soon

NICK LEE (2005)

disagrees with POSTMAN, he agrees that childhood has become ambiguous, but argues that parents have financial control and children can only spend as much as their parents allow. So the paradox of childhood is one of dependence and independence at the same time