Childhood

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Recommended: sociology and childhood

‘Childhood is a social construct, a product of our collective imaginations. Different ads and different films construct childhood in different ways’ (Video 1 Band 3 pp.341-342).

I intend to explain how different visual representations of children are influenced by the four discourses of childhood. I will discuss views and ideas of the three main childhood discourse philosophers and the sociologist.

Social constructionism approach distinguishes different discourses of childhood as a result of different cultures, believes, experiences and time in history. It suggests that ‘child’ and ‘childhood’ only exist because adults made them meaningful (Aries, 1962). The approach sees our understanding and knowledge as a construction through our childhood experiences.

“The term discourse is taken to mean a whole set of interconnected ideas that work together in self-contained way, ideas that are held by particular ideology or view of the world.” (Rogers, 2003, p.21)

In the painting Beside the River by Agnes Gardener King (Book 1, p. 22) the girl portrays the Romantic view of childhood which sees a child as an innocent and guiltless. That approach is mainly observed in Victorian fine art and book illustrations. Like the girl in the painting, romantic view looks for the goodness in the child. The white dress, the girl, the tress and lamb are symbols of the innocence. The painting looks peaceful, the colours are calm; the girl walks slowly and smiles gently. That type of image was the main massage of the Romantic discourse of childhood. The concept was greatly influenced by the eighteenth-century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), who wrote a book ‘Emile’ which became one of the most important textbooks of French ...

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...lieves.

After reading the U212 Book Chapter 1&2 and watching the Video of ‘Representation of childhood’ I think that the discourses of childhood an adult sees in child greatly depends on the gender of the young person. The Puritan discourse of childhood usually is represented by boys as mischievous and evil kid that needs disciplining. Whereas the girls are usually represented in the Romantic discourse of childhood, innocent and sin free. The films and adverts shows different discourses of childhood where sometimes is the sexual or violent aspect which shocks us and makes us think. How we see the childhood it very much depends on our own experiences of early days, believes and cultural up bringing. Two people looking at the same picture, film or advert may see two different things. There is no common childhood there are only similar experiences of childhood.

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