Social Construction Of Childhood Essay

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Childhood is the period of time where a child is not an adult, and is experiencing situations that generally only children will experience. For many years there has been a debate between sociologists as to whether childhood still exists or whether it is deteriorating. There is also the debate between whether childhood is a social construct or not. The concept of social construction is that where a society shapes something into what they believe is the normal way of life, this varies from culture to culture, meaning that childhood is a social construct. Where some societies value children as economic benefiters who help them bring in an income, others value children as members of the family who should be protected and brought up as children. …show more content…

He studied a range of paintings from previous eras and noticed that the concept of childhood has only existed over the last 300 years. By looking at these paintings, he found a pattern that showed that children were ‘mini-adults’ in middle age England, and that they were used as tools to bring in an income for their families. In today’s society, this is noticeably different due to government policies and laws that have been issued in order to protect children. For example, it is illegal for under-age children to work and education has been made compulsory.

The march of progress is a concept found by some sociologists who believe that childhood is positively changing, and that children are now experiencing a better life in their younger years. Society is becoming a better place for children to grow up and is also becoming more child-centred, as children are now being protected by the education system and government policies that allow them to live the childhood that they deserve. For example, The Children’s Act states that a child can be removed from their family, by the state, if it appears that the family is unsuitable or incapable of raising the

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