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There is no single set of beliefs about children; childhood is a social and cultural construct. Social constructionism is concerned with ideas about children, not facts about them. Indeed, many social constructionists would deny the existence of any universal facts about children (Woodhead and Montgomery 2003:46). Ideas about children change because they are dependent on their social, cultural and historical context. The ideas held concerning children have consequences, they affect the way children are treated and thought about (James and James 2008:122). Postman (1994) believes that childhood in its’ current conception is ‘disappearing.’ The following text will critically discuss Postman’s (1994) theory, principally it will consider the role he give to the media, secrets, violence against children and children’s games.
For the idea of childhood to come into being, there was a change in the adult world; specifically adulthood must be defined differently, adults must become the ‘care takers’ of children. This change happened during the middle of the fifteenth century, propelled by the invention of the printing press, which in turn developed a new symbolic world. The new adulthood excluded children; therefore it became necessary to create a new childhood (Postman 1994:21). Childhood is acknowledged to exist, as a feature of the natural order. The child became a special creature with a different nature and different needs, who require protection from the adult world (Postman 1994:37).
Childhood can be defined as bundle of ideas and sentiments that characterise the socially constructed nature of childhood (Wyness 2006). Therefore, childhood and children’s experiences of everyday life are constructed by adults throu...
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...tion,’ Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillion.
James, A. and James, A. (2008) ‘Key Concepts in Childhood Studies,’ London: Sage.
Mayall, B. (2003) Towards a sociology of childhood, thinking from children’s lives, Berkshire: Open University Press.
Postman, N, (1994) (Eds) ‘The disappearance of childhood’, New York: Random house.
Vanobbergen, B. (2004) ‘Wanted: real children. About innocence and nostalgia in a commodified childhood, Studies in philosophy and education 23: 161-176.
Woodhead, M. and Montgomery, H. (Eds) (2003) ‘Understanding childhood: an interdisciplinary approach,’ Milton Keynes: John Wiley and sons in association with The Open University.
Wyness, M. (2006) ‘Childhood and society: an introduction to the sociology of childhood,’ Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wyness, M. (2000) ‘Contesting childhood,’ London: Falmer Press.
The world has experienced many changes in past generations, to the present. One of the very most important changes in life had to be the changes of children. Historians have worked a great deal on children’s lives in the past. “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”- Author Unknown
Wells, Karen C.. "rescuing children and children's rights." Childhood in a global perspective. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2009. 168-169. Print.
Tickell, C., 2011. The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning. An independent report on the Early Years Foundation Stage to Her Majesty’s Government. London: HMG
Elliott, J. (2008) ‘Fifty years of change in British Society’ in J. Elliott & R. Vaitilingham (eds) Now We are 50: key findings from the National Child Development Study CLS/IOE/ESRC.
In this essay I will be discussing my concept of childhood and how it compares to my understanding of the theories and concepts of John Locke and John Wesley. I have chosen to look at these two theorists as although they lived in similar times their theories and concepts on children were influenced by very different factors and so differ greatly from each other and in most respects differ from my own concepts. My concept of childhood is influenced by personal experience and the views of my parent.
The dictionary definition of a child is a young human being, an immature person and offspring (Oxford, 1976). This idea is reflected in Mead’s statement ‘that children to adults are representative of something weak and helpless in need of protection, supervision, training, models, skills, beliefs and ‘character’’ (Montgomery et al, 2003, p vii). The emphasis is on the concept of the child by adults rather than the size or mentality raising the notion that a child, and therefore childhood, is not just a biological concept but also an ideological one (Falconer, 2009). This ideology makes an oxymoron of Children’s Literature according to Rose (Hunt, 2009a) as adults write, publish and purchase books with each set of adults having their own ideas about childh...
According to Philippe Aris a famous sociologist who studied childhood saw it as a social and historical construction (Montgomery 2009) he believed childhood did not really exist until the sixtieth century before that children had been treated as small and inadequate adults (Penn 2008). Sociologist Rinaldi also believed that it is society and different times in history that created childhood (Neaum 2010) Mayall believes children lives are lived through childhoods constructed for them by adults understanding of children and what children are and should be (Kehily 2009) a sociologist who has a different idea would be James and Prout 1990 who believe childhood is both ...
Maybin, J. &Woodhead, M. (2003). Childhoods in context. Southern Gate, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd
James, A. (1998). From the child's point of view: Issues in the social construction of
The text depicts a historical perspective on Middle Childhood, as during the twentieth century, children were viewed primarily as an economic source of income, in terms of providing for the family. According to the text this happens often in European counties and in parts of the United States. Elizabeth D. Hutchinson, Dimensions of Human Behavior The Changing Life Course 3rd, 2008. In this short review we will look at how this historical perspective in itself is not a question to how, but when these individual give.
My thesis statement is that children’s innocence enables them to cope in difficult situations. Children generally have a tendency to lighten the mood in sad situations because of their innocent nature. They turn even the saddest situations to mild, innocent situations. This is evident when Marjane says “these stories had given me new ideas for games”, (Satrapi, 55). By saying this she refers to her uncle’s stories of how he and other prisoners were tortured in prison. Stories of torture have never been easy to hear even for adults but Marjane so innocentl...
Holt, J. (2013). Escape from childhood. In J. Noll (Ed.), Taking Sides: clashing views on
There are proponents of the debate that childhood is disappearing which will be discussed in this section which include Postman (1983), Elkind (1981) and Palmer (2006). In considering these points of view which are mostly American, one must firstly set in context what is meant by the disappearance or erosion of childhood. This key debate centres on Postman (1983) who wrote “The disappearance of childhood” which is a contentious book about how childhood as a social category which is separate from adulthood is eroding. He defines a point where childhood came into existence, which was treated as a special phase in the middle ages based on the work of Aries in his book “Centuries of childhood” (1962, cited in Postman 1983). According to Postman, a major influence on how childhood was perceived differently to adulthood was the invention of the printing press and literacy in the mid sixteenth century. That is to say children had to learn to read before the secrets of adulthood in particular sex and violence was available...
Abstract In this essay, I intend to explain how everyday lives challenge the construction of childhood as a time of innocence. In the main part of my assignment, I will explain the idea of innocence, which started with Romantic discourse of childhood and how it shaped our view of childhood. I will also look at two contradictory ideas of childhood innocence and guilt in Blake’s poems and extract from Mayhew’s book. Next, I will compare the images of innocence in TV adverts and Barnardo’s posters. After that, I will look at the representation of childhood innocence in sexuality and criminality, and the roles the age and the gender play in portraying children as innocent or guilty. I will include some cross-cultural and contemporary descriptions on the key topics. At the end of my assignment, I will summarize the main points of the arguments.
A childhood is the delicate phase of every adolescent's life where they must mature into their own person, with their own responsibilities. Although every individual will eventually bloom with their own personality, morals, and perspectives, the education and values we learn and see along the way add to the fingers that mold. We begin when we are born, and are taken in by strangers. These priceless people show us love, and just how strong attachments can be. Family ties snare us in their loving webs and become the support network to catch us throughout our youthful falls. They are our first real pictures of people, and their actions and emotions immediately become examples.