Prior to the 17th century, for instance, children were seen as being different from adults only in their size, therefore, they were expected to behave just as adults would. Young people were perceived as being miniature adults and, therefore, subject to the same punishments as offenders who were older. Childhood was considered to end at about age five. It was not until the 17th century that European church and community started to believe that younger people were weak and innocent and in need of guidance, and protection. Consequently, childhood was prolonged, education became a priority, and societal norms emerged specifying age-appropriate behavior.
Because of the impact of the society and parents plus the evolution of new technologies, young people are less and less able to communicate face to face. Young people are losing the ability to socialize face to face because of parents and society. A few decades ago, parents and the society used to be more flexible about freedom. Nowadays, a lot of parents choose to “shortened the leash on their kids” by limiting their independence because they feel that it is the best way to protect their children from what is happening in the outside world such as child-abduction for example. Not only are parents stricter, but the actual society as well.
Some people would have argued that this was fair and equal and that today’s ‘child-centred’ society has taken away the freedom of children over the years. Item A also mentions that after the industrialisation in the west today has changed the position of children being ‘miniature adults’ into a childhood where their time, space and bodies are controlled by adults. Child liberationists’ would argue that this isn’t for the ‘protection’ or the ‘care’ of children, it’s just a way for adults to control the lives of their children. Parents try to control when their kids go to bed, when they wake up, when they go out and where they go, child liberationists would say that this is a way to put children in oppression to. The last part of item A is talking about the distinction between adults and children is becoming blurred again.
How far did the aims and key features of the Five-Year Plans change in the years 1928-41? Aims and features changed: * Aimed originally to catch up with the Western economies that were about 100 years ahead of the USSR. * To manufacture weapons in order to defend against invasion from capitalist countries. * Aimed to continue socialism as it was believed socialism could only exist in a highly industrialised nation. * Aimed to improve conditions for the working class as Stalin believed the revolution was a working class one, and had seen how the peasants prospered but the working class did not under the NEP.
Finn states that confidential government papers that were disclosed to the London publication Time Out in 1983 show that the true purpose of the youth training schemes was to restrict the number of workers who would join trade unions, in order to minimise the bargaining power of the workforce. John Clarke and Paul Willis came to a similar conclusion. They argued that the new vocationalism was a means of producing people who wanted to work but who were caught in the middle between education and the world of work. Trainees could be used instead of other full-time workers, and as a result would be cheaper for the
Assess sociological explanations of changes in the status of childhood Social construction is the way that something is created through individual, social and cultural interpretations, perception and actions of people. Childhood has not stayed the same throughout history and varies in different cultures, so it is not possible that childhood is biological and therefore it must be socially constructed for a particular time, for a particular societies needs. Eidenstadt is one sociologist who believes that childhood is socially constructed and is therefore culturally specific. Bilton supports this argument that childhood is experienced differently in the western world compared to the east; the western world has childhood while the eastern world still sees children working. Benedict has suggested that in simpler pre-industrial societies there are three main differences in the ways that children are treated compared to modern western societies, claiming that responsibility is taken at an earlier age, for example Punch’s study in Bolivia found that children from around the age of 5 are expected to work.
Assess sociological explanations of changes in the status of childhood? Childhood is a social construction and varies between times, places and groups. Most sociologists see our ides of childhood as a fairly recent one, the result of industrialisation and other social changes. Modern society constructs childhood as a tie of vulnerability, innocence and segregation from the adult world. The March of progress sociologist believe we live in an increasingly child-centred society.
In this essay I intend to evaluate and examine the different sociological views on changes in the experience over the past 50 years or so. There are several different sociological views on whether these changes have been beneficial to children or not. In the pre-industrial society childhood did not exist. Children were seen as little adults and this means that they took part in the same jobs as the adults like working in mines, farms and factories and bringing income in to the family in the pre-industrial society the main idea about children was that they were seen as an economic asset to the family. Being seen as little adults children did not have specialised toys, TV programmes which were specifically for children.
An example of this theory is Aries (1960), where he studied paintings from medieval times. From paintings Aries saw children were not seen ass having a different ‘nature’ from adults and they began working from an early age. Therefore children were ‘mini-adults’ with the same rights, duties and skills as adults. Benedict (1934) argues that there’s a cross-cultural differences in childhood; where position of children varies based on their geographical location. For example children in simpler, non-industrial societies are treated differently from their modern western counterparts, especially in Asian countries where children have more responsibility at home and work, and less value is placed on obedience to adult authority.
1] succinctly summarizes the de-skilling hypothesis for the Industrial Revolution: new technology brought about “a substitution of mechanical devices for human skills” and “inanimate power—in particular, steam—took the place of human and animal strength.” By several measures, ordinary factory workers were unskilled. Compared to workers in craft and professional occupations, factory workers earned lower wages. Also, factory jobs did not require formal education, training periods were brief, factory work was monotonous and factory workers lacked both social status and market power. Thus a wide body of evidence supports deskilling as a description of the change in the nature of the labor supply. But the de-skilling hypothesis is also about technology.