1. Centuries of Childhood (1962) – Philippe Aries
◦ The concept of childhood did not exist in medieval
Europe
◦ Based on contemporary letters, diaries and other
documents as well as the way children were depicted at
the time
◦ Weaned little adults and treated as such
◦ Worked alongside adults
◦ Behaved like adults in many ways
2. Why might there be problems in using evidence
such as paintings and diaries to understand life?
3.
4. Developed from the separation of children from
the work of adults
Began in the 16th
C – upper classes sent their
children to schools to be educated
Industrial revolution child labour
19th
C factory acts banned employment of children
in mines and factories
End of 19th
C elementary state education became
compulsory in European countries
5. Children now had a separate legal status
Accompanied by development of adults
specialising in children
Aries
◦ Our world is obsessed with the physical, moral and
sexual problems of childhood
Children have different needs
6. Criticised for overstating his case
There were laws in medieval Europe e.g.
◦ Prohibition of the marriage of children under 12
Many historians agree with this view, however.
7. Wendy Rogers (2001)
◦ Social construction of
childhood in 20th
C Europe
◦ ‘innocent and wholesome
child’ and ‘wicked and sinful
child’
◦ Each image suggests a way of
acting toward children
◦ These views suggest that
adults should be concerned
with children and take
responsibility for their
upbringing
8. Welfare View
◦ Forms the basis of social policy
toward children in the UK today
◦ Children Act of 1989
‘when a court determines any
question with respect to the
upbringing of a child…the child’s
welfare shall be the court’s
paramount consideration’
9. Control View
◦ Argues that children are
unable to control their anti-
social tendencies
◦ Rogers
‘there is no natural
distinction that marks off
children as a certain
category of person’ –
meaning given to
childhood at a time and
place
10. In pairs, describe a
day in the life of a 5-
year old in Britain
today. How many
times a day might that
child be controlled by
adults? Use the
headings:
◦ Control over time
◦ Control over space
◦ Control over bodies
◦ Access to resources
11. Argues that over the past few centuries the
position of children in Western societies has been
steadily improving and today it is better than it has
ever been
De Mause (1974)
◦ “The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we
have only recently begun to awaken. The further back in
history one goes, the lower the level of childcare, and the
more likely children are to be killed, abandoned, beaten,
terrorised or sexually abused”
12. Aries has a March of Progress View
◦ Children are more valued
◦ Better care
◦ More protection
◦ Better educated
◦ Better health
◦ More rights
Think about the IMR as well
Family has become child centred
◦ Society has also become child centred
◦ Tweens
13. ‘March of Progress’ view is false
Society is based on conflict
◦ There are inequalities between children – risk and care,
many remain unprotected
◦ Inequalities between children and adults – experience
greater control, oppression and dependency, not care
and protection
14. In 2006 31,400 children were on child protection
registers (mostly seen at risk from their own
parents)
ChildLine 20,000 calls a year (sexual or
physical abuse)
‘Dark side’ of the family
15. ‘no schoolchildren’
Surveillance
Road safety
1971 80% of 7-8 yr olds allowed to go to school without
supervision
1990 fallen to 9%
Hugh Cunningham (2007)
◦ Areas in which children are allowed to travel alone has shrunk to one
ninth of the size it was 25 years ago
Cindi Katz (1993)
◦ Rural Sudanese children roam freely around the village and outside of it
16. Samoans ‘too young’ never given
as an excuse
Adults have control and prevent the
child from touching their own bodies
in certain ways too
Contrast with Trobriand Islands
17. Money!
Labour laws
Compulsory schooling
Child benefit goes to the….parents
Pocket money given by….parents (control)
Katz
◦ Sudanese children already engaged in productive work
from three or four
18. Reasons for this age patriarchy children cannot
make rational choices (welfare view)
In the same way, children are not totally
powerless:
◦ 1989 Children Act and the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child children have a legal right to be
protected and consulted
19. Postman (1994) – childhood is
disappearing at a dazzling speed
◦ Similarity in clothing
◦ Same rights as adults
◦ Reason: the rise and fall of print
culture and then TV culture
20. Suggest 3 examples of ways in
which children’s activities, leisure,
dress or food and those of adults
have become similar in recent
years…
21. Postman has been criticised for
overstating his case:
◦ Childhood is a long way from disappearing
◦ Children have become a major economic
force:
Taste in consumer goods have a major
influence on what is produced and purchased
(Buckingham, 2000)
22. Nick Lee (2001)
Childhood has become more
complex and ambiguous
Children are dependent on their
parents but in another sense are
independent – mass market
Children are
both
dependent
and
independent
23. Opie (1993) – childhood is not
disappearing. Argues that there is
strong evidence of the continued
existence of a separate children’s
culture.
◦ The lifetime study on children’s
games, rhymes and songs shows that
children can do and create their own
independent culture separate of that
of adults
O
24. Palmer (2006) – toxic
childhood
◦ Computer games, junk food,
long work by parents have
damaged children’s
development
◦ Commercialisation of
childhood
25. Margo & Dixon (2006) – UK youth are at or near
the top of international league tables for obesity, self harm,
drug abuse, violence, sexual experiences and teenage
pregnancies.
◦ 2007 – UNICEF survey ranked UK 21st
of 25 for children’s
well being
What does this say about childhood?
Why do you think this has happened?
29. In groups create a tv advert that crosses
two generations – think of a product
(toy, game, film) you could sell that appeals
to both adults and children alike
You have 15 minutes to come up with your
advert then you will show the rest of the class
30.
31. Childhood
Child Centred
Social Construction
Economic asset
Economic burden/liability
Infant mortality rate
March of progress view
Cross-cultural
Disappearance of childhood
Social blurring
Age patriarchy
32. Assess sociological explanations of changes in the status of
childhood
◦ (24 marks)
Examine the reasons for the change in the status of children
since industrialisation
◦ (24 marks)
Examine the reasons for changes in the position of children in
the last 200 years
◦ (24 marks)
Assess the view that childhood is not a fixed universal
experience
◦ (24 marks)
33. 1. Explain what is meant by the social construction of childhood
2. Benedict identifies three ways in which childhood in non-
industrial cultures often differs from childhood in the west. State
two of these
3. Why are children less of an economic asset to their parents today
than they were in the past
4. Give one example of class differences between children
5. What is age patriarchy?
6. Why does Postman believe childhood is disappearing?
34. 1. What is meant by ‘childhood’ differs between societies and depends on time, place
and culture.
2. Children take responsibility at an earlier age: less value placed on them showing
obedience; their sexual behaviour is often viewed differently.
3. Because they cannot work, even part-time, until they are at least 13 years old.
4. Among poorer children these are more likely: low birth weight; delayed
development; higher infant mortality rates; longstanding illness; hyperactivity and
conduct disorders; falling behind at school; being on the child protection register
5. Adult domination/ control and child dependence.
6. Because television is destroying the information hierarchy between adults and
children and giving children access to knowledge that hitherto only adults only
possessed.
35. Examine the ways in which childhood can be said
to be socially constructed. (24 marks)
