Slides for the session on c

1. WHAT IS CHILDHOOD?

2. Learning Outcomes
To explore different meanings of
childhood
To identify examples of how
childhood is socially constructed

3. Experiences of childhood &
children

4. Childhood
All experienced
childhood
Been a child
Been cared for
Grown up From Shreve (2011)

5. Experiences of Children
Parents
Work with children
Related to children
Encounter children
From Cole (2008)

6. Consumer Goods
Goods aimed at
children
Children are a
consumer group
Media targets
children From Tenant-Moore 2011

7. Places and Spaces
Specific Places for
children
Places exclude
children
Places where
children are gathered
From Johnstone
(2010)

8. What is Childhood?

9. Childhood?
Age
Biology
Behaviour
Experience
Activities
Responsibilities

10. Age
Consent to sex at 16
Compulsory education to 18 (almost)
Vote at 18
Watch X rated film at 18
Doli incapax?
Criminally responsible 10 but 12 in Scotland

11. Biology?
Physical appearance
Stature
Puberty

12. “The immaturity of children in a
biological fact of life but the ways
in which this immaturity is
understood and made
meaningful is a fact of culture”
(Prout, A and James, A 1997: p7)

13. Behaviour?
Immaturity
Childish Behaviour
• Naughty
• Tantrums
• Lash out
• Don‟t listen
• Imagination

14. Experience?
Childhood = Innocence
Our children are „Angels‟
Others‟ children are „Devils‟
Asexual
Vulnerable – Needing Protection

15. Innocence vs Evil
Our children - „Angels‟
Others‟ children – „Devils‟
• Valentine (1996)

16. Activities
Childhood = Play
Adulthood = Work

17. Responsibilities
700,000 young carers (Uni
Nottingham/ BBC)

18. Sociocultural Approaches
Childhood

19. “In the twentieth century...Western
childhood has become a period in the life
course characterised by 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 Prout, 1998: p.62)

20. Childhood
Not Universal
Cultural
Temporal
Locational

21. Ethnocentrism vs
Ethnorelativism
Ethnocentrism Ethnorelativism
Own way of life is All cultures equally valid
universal & natural
No judgment
Judgment based
on own life as Different cultures/ways of
correct life are not accountable

22. Cultural
Independence – self sufficient
• Ik tribe of Uganda
Dependent
• Western

23. Temporal
Postman (1983) „Disappearance of
childhood‟
Childhood is heading for oblivion
Ariès (1962, 1996) childhood as we
know it is recent

24. Locational
Spatial boundaries
Places for children

25. Summary
Childhood is socially constructed
Definition of childhood varies
Experience of childhood varies

26. Bibliography
Ariès, P (1996) Centuries of Childhood, London: Pimlico
James, A; Jenks, C; Prout, A (1998) Theorising Childhood,
Cambridge: Polity
Kehily, M. J. (ed.) (2009) An Introduction to Childhood Studies,
Maidenhead: Open University Press
Postman, N (1983) The Disappearance of Childhood, London:
W H Allen
Prout, A and James, A (1997) „A New Paradigm for the
Sociology of Childhood? Provenance, Promise and Problems‟ in
James, A and Prout, A (Eds) Constructing and Reconstructing
Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of
Childhood, 2nd edn. London: FalmerPress
Valentine, G (1996) „Angels and devils: moral landscapes of
childhood‟, Environment and Planning, Vol. 14, pp. 582-599
Wyness, M (2006) Childhood and Society, Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan

27. Images
 Cole. W (2008) Stickman with baby buggy [Online] Available at
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/image-3532651/stock-vector-stick-
man-with-baby-buggy [Accessed 15th September 2011]
 Johnstone, N (2010) Tories to axe 750 school projects, says
Labour, [Online]
http://www.publicpropertyuk.com/2010/04/22/750-schools-to-
miss-out-under-tories-says-labour/ [Accessed 15th September
2011]
 Shreve (2011) Laura, [Online] Available at
http://thrillingdaysofyesteryear.blogspot.com/2011/05/coming-
distractions-august-2011-on-tcm.html [Accessed 15th September
2011]
 Tennant-Moore, H (2011) They Say: Autism is Linked to Watching
TV [Online]
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/07/28/th
ey-say-autism-is-linked-to-watching-tv.aspx [Accessed 15th
September 2011]