IS CHILDHOOD ‘SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED’?
Most sociologists argue that the idea of childhood is not something
natural and given How we treat children – how we expect them to
look, behave and develop – is decided by the kind of society you live
in. This is what ‘socially constructed’ means.

Different societies have treated children very differently

Different historical periods have varied a lot in the way
children are regarded and treated.
HOW WE ‘CONSTRUCT’ CHILDHOOD TODAY (western societies).
Western societies have definite ideas - cultural norms – about childhood

It is a special and distinct time of life - separate and different (like middle age, old age
etc – a very precise ‘phase’ of your life).

Because of this the status of children is very different from adults – this means that –

They are treated as unequal – not the equals of adults

They have special laws which prevent them from doing things

Because they are regarded as vulnerable there are special laws protecting them which
don’t apply to adults

The separateness of childhood is re-enforced by the idea that they should wear different
clothes and behave differently and have products and services which are for them only

Children are not yet .mature’ and fully formed – they cannot run their own lives – so…..

Children need a long period of training, education and socialisation into the ways of our
society before they can be fully fledged ‘adults.

The vulnerability and specialness of children means that they are exempt from normal
adult activities like paid work and spend their time protected in the family and at school.

There is also an idea that childhood is somehow a golden age which you look back on
and any attempts to violate this will provoke strong emotions and defence.
IS THIS SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED?
Sociologists who argue that say that it can be demonstrated by the fact that - 
Other cultures treat children very differently

Children were not always treated this way in the past
OTHER CULTURES
Sociologists have generally argued that children are treated differently in traditional societies and
that our modern ‘western’ way of considering children is only one way. In such communities - 
Children are expected to join their elders and accept family and work responsibilities at a
much earlier age eg Samantha Punch looked at childhood in Bolivia in 2001 (‘Childhood
in Bolivia’) found that at the age of 5 kids are expected to work in the home and outside
too. Eg in a study of a Samoan village in 1974 Lowell Holmes found that they had no
concept of being ‘too young’ to to work and carry out tasks.

Children are not as expected to automatically obey adults – eg Raymond Firth studied
the Tikopia tribe of the Pacific and found that children only did as they were told if they
wanted to – it was not automatic.

Children were not shielded from sex - eg Malinowski studied the Trobriand Islanders
and found that they allowed children to explore sexuality and did not try to prevent them
or shield them in any way.
= other cultures did not separate children to the same extent that western cultures do – they are
‘little adults’ and not regarded as uniquely vulnerable to be protected and shielded from work,
sex etc.
OTHER TIMES
Some historians and sociologists have argued that - (a)the whole idea of ‘childhood’ is a very recent invention
(b)In the Middle Ages it did not even exist – they were treated in the same way as adults. They
were expected to work and participate in the family and the community from a very early age
and the law did not treat them any different from other people.
(c)The historian Aries argues this view and uses as evidence pictures and paintings from the time
which show children dressed in exactly the same way as adults and doing exactly the same things
adults are doing.
(d)The attitude of parents was very different – they did not shower the same affection on them as
we do today (possibly because of the high rate of child mortality – 1/5 of the children might die
before their 5th birthday.
WHEN DID THIS CHANGE?
Aries argues that it began to change slowly later on in the Middle Ages
(i)Schools began to be just for young people (previously for everybody)
(ii)The Church saw children as particularly fragile and in need of protection from the evils of the
world for the first time
(iii)Children’s clothing began to be different - by the 1600s children of wealthy people were
dressed in quite different clothes
(iv)By the 1700s books on how to rear children were being written (but only for the wealthy)
(v)This led to our own times and what Aries calls ‘the cult of childhood’ – out modern obsession
with treating children as if they were special and totally vulnerable.
WHY DID THIS CHANGE?
Historians and sociologists have come up with many suggested reasons why the whole idea of a
special period of life called ‘childhood’ emerged - mostly in the 1800s and 1900s - 1. Laws were passed taking children out of factories - and into the home.
2. Compulsory schooling after 1880 – making them separate and removing them from work
– the longer the school leaving age was extended the more this happened.
3. later laws like the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act (1889) and the much later
Children Act (1989) put the safety and security of children as the top priority
4. Children were now thought to have separate ‘rights’ which parents and the community
must provide for – such as healthcare, education, freedom from abuse etc.
5. Smaller families and improvements in medicine which greatly improved childhood
mortality meant that parents put much more emotional and financial involvement with
their children – they came to regard them as more precious and important to them
6. The health and development of children became a separate and specialised branch of
medicine and science – emphasising the special important of children and childhood in
the modern world.
7. There were many new laws which applied only to children and aimed at their protection
eg laws about child sex, smoking, drinking, driving and in recent times stricter laws about
those allowed to supervise children.
All of these changes were really brought about by the increasing wealth and prosperity of society
– and also the need for an educated population. These mean that children are no longer needed to
work but are required to develop the skills needed in a modern industrial society. This means that
childhood came to be seen as a separate ‘preparatory’ stage in life – and one which was uniquely
precious and vulnerable.