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Children in Society

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‘’Applying material from Item A and your knowledge evaluate sociological explanations of the changes in the status of childhood.’’(20 marks)

Sociologists believe that childhood is created and defined by society. They also believe that it is a social construct in developing society and how it plays its part. Previously in different periods there wasn’t a consistent difference between adults and children. However, now there is with clear differences and distinctions between the two.

Childhood found its place in society after the pre-industrial society with families living in an extended environment. With extended families a lot of members it doesn’t create the difference between childhood and adulthood. As item A states ‘’there was little distinction between children and adults’’ in the past. Aries (1960) suggested that ‘the idea of childhood did not exist’. After Aries studied from previous art pieces and diaries from the time period he claimed that children that once children had not passed the dependency of infancy they were treated as ‘mini adults’. With labelling children as mini adults it implied that they held the same: rights, duties and skills as adults had. Aries argued the fact that children are not or should not be seen no different to adults from the way they act in society. He also proposed that childhood began to emerge from the 13th century and this was partly due to the rise in education and the individuality children then had compared to adults. Clothing is also a major contributor between the defined line against children and adults. There was no real significant difference between clothing and how it was different between adults and children however it changed in the 17th century between different social classes. The distinction became more prone when industrialisation took place in the 18th and 19th century. With this factor taking slow

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