Assess the sociological explanations of changes in the status of children (24 marks)
Childhood is a socially defined age-status. There are major differences in how childhood is defined both historically and cross-culturally. Some may believe that childhood is biological. The age and development of children are biologically determined as these remain the same throughout time and cultures. But childhood, the way children are viewed and treated, changes throughout time and cultures. This is why childhood is viewed as a social construction. Some sociologists suggest the changes in the status of children are good, while others suggest they are bad.
To examine the change in the status of children, we have to see how it has been constructed by society. In the UK people follow the western modern notion; that childhood is a special separate life stage. However, this view is not found in all societies as suggested by Wagg (1992). There is clear evidence of this when childhood is examined cross-culturally. Ruth Benedict (1934) argued that children in simpler, non-industrial societies are generally treated differently from their western counterparts. Benedict suggested that children take responsibility from an early age and that there is less value placed on obedience to adult authority. She also suggests that children’s sexual behaviour is often viewed differently. Many sociologists have studies to support this. Malinowski (1957) found that Trobriand Islanders took an attitude of ‘tolerance and amused interest’ towards children’s sexual explorations. Similarly, the position of children differs historically. Aries (1960) argues that in the Middle Ages childhood as a separate age-stage was short as children began work at an early stage and art from the period depicted children as ‘mini-adults’ with differences only in size.
One view on the changes of the position of children