Examine the Reasons for, and the Effects of, Changes in Family Size over the Past 100 Years or so.

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Examine the reasons for, and the effects of, changes in family size over the past 100 years or so. In my opinion childhood begins at birth and ends at the age of eighteen, but this differs between different perspectives of maturity, societies and individuals. In pre-industrial society childhood, as we know it, did not exist within the family as we know of it today. In terms of the family institution children of middle class background were closely regarded as adults themselves from a young age as those who partook in the same activities as adults. However working class children were put into work houses or in agriculture to help support the low incomes of families’ economic struggles. This, in accordance to Aries, tells us that children were seen more as a financial asset than a symbol of peoples love for one another. This can be supported by looking how families in pre-industrial had larger families because of reasons of needing a better overall family income but also because life expectancy was dramatically lower than it in modern day terms. One thing in common that both sets of children shared in this society was strict control by parents/ adult authoritive figures and severe punishment for defiance. It was only in late industrialisation when significance change occurred, people began campaigning for child rights, something that had never happened until this point. working class families children were still made to work in dangerous, disease ridden factories. This campaign is was something that caused the position of children in society to change from a joint adult culture to modern terms where it is completely separate with different governs and laws to adults. Examples such as these lead to children being excluded from factory work and mines for their safety but still this did not change within the majority of working class families who had

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