There are two questions so I will answer both questions equally. Starting with how I understand social constructionism to be useful for the lives of children and young people. I will discuss the question about childhood ending at the young age of eleven, how gender can play a significant role in the construction of children and young people. Then how place and time had played a role n creating the ‘teenager’. Following that for the second question I will discuss how photography is used and the way adults dictate the use of these images. Then I will discuss and how recording development through a ‘red book’ is a key factor in the way one can learn about babies, children and young people. After that I will explain how Sure Start is for all children aimed at giving them a ‘sure start’ in life. I will then sum it all up at the end with a conclusion and reference list.
I understand social constructionism from reading the fourth learning guide OU Online (2013) to be a part of everyone’s lives, it has always been in society and it will always be in society. When a baby is born they do not know anything, like how to talk or what language they will learn but the babies’ families will talk to them in their ‘native’ language and as the baby learns the language is constructed. This is then re enforced once they start school. OU Online (2013) showed a video about the ‘End of Childhood’ and how Dame Jacqueline Wilson said that “teenagers are acting like adults at an alarmingly early age, and parents have to learn to stand up to their children’s demands”. I think she could be right but not for all children and young people as they are all different and they all develop at different stages in their lives. However OU Online (2013) says that as one...
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... see this as a barrier. I have noticed our local Children’s centre does do Father’s/ Granddad’s/ uncle’s days and often on Saturday’s too. It is clear that they are working with the children and their families in communities around the UK.
To sum all this up would be to say some people think that a child's childhood is ending too soon and as young as the age off eleven, gender is one way our society is constructed. Through time ‘teenagers have evolved and made their mark in society, parent’s may display photographs around the home and they are used to jog memories and create conversations with visitors. Discourse is used in the red book between professionals and parents and the Sure Start children’s centres have become part of the construction of communities through working well with children and their families making sure they include male members of the community.
Nontraditional gender socialisation can help the child develop a more complete understanding of their personality, that takes both their feminine traits and masculine traits into consideration. This can be illustrated by Jeremy telling his mother that he got to be “a complete person” (Bem, 1998, p. 190), when asked how his upbringing enhanced his life. Further this type of parenting allows the child to be more analytical of traditional gender roles and how they might be present and potentially affect their lives. This can make them more aware of them, and could help them avoid or fight against negative effects that might arise from their presents. This can often be advantageous. Bem educated her children about traditional gender roles and their negative aspects, like sexism, and through this allowed them to have the tools to identify them early on, like Emily did in nursery school (Bem, 1998, p. 119-120). When children are being educated about traditional gender roles and their disadvantages they have an easier time identifying them later on and possibly fighting
Why it is like that? Children don’t have social roles, they are just being who they are. And the most awful part is that they must lost the very important part of their individuality. It happens during the process of growing up, when they are being forced and compelled to adopt social norms. It might go smooth or becomes a struggle, but it’s inevitable. Our essence is uncomplete, it’s stocked up with numerous gender stereotypes and gender scripts. But if we strip off all the build-up of these stereotypes, we left to be miserable and lonely human being. Dar Williams song is a nice illustration hoe society slowly but surely imposed its gender rules in our lives. We receive feedbacks and instructions from literally everything. But we not just the receivers. We are active learners and teachers in gender school. We ourselves constantly give feedback and instructions to others. Thus, gender becomes interactive process. It emphasise West and Zimmerman, when they speak about gender accountability, “If sex category is omnirelevant (or even approaches being so), then a person engaged in virtually any activity may be held accountable for performance of that activity as a woman or a man” (West, Zimmerman “Doing Gender”, 1987, p. 136). It seems that every our move becomes gender accountable, and all of us are sharing this duty to maintain each other gender. To the certain extend, it becomes obligation for every individual to keep gender binary active, and we all doing so by
All theories are research-based, and all investigation is centred on interacting with children and interviewing people involved in their lives, trying to understand the child’s view of the world. Childhood studies recognize that every child is different and socially constructed, influenced by external factors, such as cultural and social constituents.
In the stage of gender stability children are able to indicate that a gender remains the same throughout time and therefore, children start to realise that they will be male or female for the rest of their lives. Nevertheless, their understanding of gender i...
Childhood can be seen as a social status with multiple meanings and expectations attached to it without a clearly defined end or beginning (Montgomery 2009), This essay will introduce different sociological perspectives on what childhood is since childhood is not universal rather is it mobile and shifting this means children experience various childhoods there are local and global variations(Waller 2009), a Childs experience can be influenced by their gender, ethnicity, culture and social class which this essay will expand on. The essay will then move forward to focusing on childhood in local and global countries to investigate the differences they have among each other lastly the essay will go onto ways an professional can help acknowledge all children diversity and create an inclusive environment regardless of their differences (Penn 2008).inclusion provides support to all children so that their experiences in an educational; setting encourages them to be as involved and independent as possible as well as help them understand the differences among their class mates
James, A. (1998). From the child's point of view: Issues in the social construction of
James, Jenks and Prout (1998) argue that childhood is characterised by sets of cultural values whereby the ‘…western childhood has become a period of social dependency, asexuality, and the obligation to be happy, with children having the right to protection and training but not to social or personal autonomy’ (James, Jenks and Prouts 1998 pg. 62). Here, childhood is described in sets of distinguished features and these features imply that the concept childhood may vary from place, culture and time. Therefore suggesting that there is no fixed or universal experience of childhood, for example, childhood in the medieval UK will be extremely different to the childhood in modern UK and therefore it varies over time, place and culture. Since the definition and state of childhood may vary depending on our cultural and historical background, some sociologist claim that childhood is not just biological, but must have been socially constructed for a specific society needs at a particular time. In this essay, I will attempt to explore ways in which childhood is said to be socially constructed by looking at historical childhood and how it has led to construction of modern childhood in the modern society. I will also explore the agency of children as competent social actors able to construct their social world.
My essay explores children and young people’s change to transitions. I know that transitions are important and a key part in each young child’s lives. I will be focusing on transitioning from nursery school to foundation stage although I am aware of the other transitions that occur in a child’s life, such as; transitioning from a child to going through puberty and becoming an adolescent. There are expected transitions which happen in a child’s life, such as; beginning schools whether it be nursery school or primary school. There are also unexpected transitions which may occur in a child’s life, such as; death and parent’s going through a divorce. Children may have not had the chance to build relationships with other children and take instructions
In what ways can childhood and youth be understood as social constructions? Illustrate your answer with relevant examples.
There has been a culture shift over the past century: gender roles in society are changing, and people are less and less conforming to the same traditional characteristics they are expected to fulfill. Now we have families with women breadwinners and stay at home dads. What caused these changes? Wars, feminism, metro sexuality, and the internet/media have contributed to the changes in gender roles in western culture specifically it was. Growing up in a time with all these challenges in what is the appropriate way and inappropriate way to act has left kids more than ever struggling to find where they fit into society.
Heather A. Priess, a Professor of psychology with a focus on developmental psychology, writes in her article Adolescent Gender-Role Identity and Mental Health: Gender Intensification Revisited, "Parents were more likely to encourage independence, achievement, self-confidence, and competitiveness in sons than daughters, and more expressivity, warmth, and courtesy for others in daughters compared with sons." This speaks to the effect of someone's upbringing; furthermore, this is a crucial part of developing gender, and a parent will have a large role in developing a child's own identity. Not only this, but more and more children are beginning to question their identity. Robin Henig, an accomplished freelance writer with multiple science publications in various magazines, wrote in her article "How Science is Helping Us Understand Gender", "She’s questioning her gender identity, rather than just accepting her hobbies and wardrobe choices as those of a tomboy, because we’re talking so much about transgender issues these days." The fact that these issues are brought up more openly allow children to express how they're actually feeling rather than conform to gender roles within society. This does not only affect the children, but parents as well since they can be more accepting of child's choice of gender identity. The topic is not only limited to male and female genders but
As a child grows and conforms to the world around them they go through various stages, one of the most important and detrimental stages in childhood development is gender identity. The development of the meaning of a child’s sex and gender can form the whole future of that child’s identity as a person. This decision whether accidental or genetic can effect that child’s life style views and social interactions for the rest of their lives. Ranging from making friends in school all the way to intimate relationships later on in life, gender identity can become an important aspect to ones future endeavors.
It is not an easy task for a child to understand the obligations that accompany their assigned gender, yet while they encounter difficulties processing these thoughts they are also achieving a greater sense of identity. Different stages of life consist of social rules that encode how one is to behave, however, it is not clearly defined when the transition should occur from young girl to young woman. It is not surprising that learning about gender roles and their associated responsibilities is not an easy part of a young child’s maturation and is often the result of a very emotionally charged collection of experiences.
This essay will argue that children should definitely be raised with gender, and address some key concepts and perspectives used in sociological analysis.
Development is defined as the process of change, a pattern that occurs from birth throughout the lifespan of the individual (Keenan and Evans, 2009). In the UK it is usual to cover child development between birth and nineteen years. Development is often categorised into different areas of development; physical, intellectual, language, emotional and social. Smidt (2006) suggested that all areas of development are interrelated. Therefore development has to be approached with a holistic view; whilst looking at one area of development all areas of development need to be considered. "The holistic ideology values the whole child understanding the young child as an individual within the context of his or her family, community and culture” Wood (1998). With this in mind practitioners need to be aware of a child’s background. Children usually progress through a set pattern of stages, unless a child has additi...