Phillip Aries feels that industrialisation was the primary factor for the change in children’s positions. During the industrial revolution education became readily available to the middle class. This extended the period of time before a child had to work which therefore pro-longed the length of time before a child became an adult. It was no longer vital for children to work in middle class families, because factory work was often more beneficial for parents because often a house in the city was provided for the family, for example Cadbury’s chocolate factories and the Bournville estates, the family no-longer had to rely solely on agriculture. In 1944 the children’s education act was in forced, this meant that free education was available to all the classes.
In the ‘West’ fewer children worked so the infant mortality rate plummeted, as a result people no longer had to compensate by having lots of offspring, this caused the birth rate to decrease as well. This caused the roles of children within the family to change, this was because the family was more child centred and the children were more emotionally valued.
This caused a child culture to emerge. In the mid 1900’s children were starting to be targeted as consumers, products were made especially for children. They no longer dressed like mini-adults, and ranges of toys and food were produced to appeal to the youngster.
This is a stark contrast from the less developed countries; In Eastern Africa there is a colony of people called the ‘Ik’, in this culture children are seen as a burden and the adults hope they would die so they would have one less mouth to feed. By the time the child turns three years old they are thrown out of the home.
In 2002 the UN announced a protocol to end the recruitment of children in the armed forces, but some countries in Asia and Africa have violated this.
As recent as last week (18/11/2004) The Independent newspaper reported how a rebel tribe in Uganda were using children as soldiers, this helps show that childhood is socially constructed, because of these countries’ situations they have had to use children to benefit themselves.
Another example of child labour still existing today is when some large companies still hire children in places like Korea and India to manufacture goods inexpensively so as they can gain a larger profit.
There is not one obvious age at which a child makes the transition into adulthood. There are discrepancies in the law between countries, cultures and religions. For example in the Jewish faith a child becomes an adult when they have a special ceremony around the age thirteen, for males it is called a Bar mitzvah. This conflicts with the country the person lives in, if they lived in the UK then they would still be restricted by the law from doing certain activities that are associated with adults.
In England a person can get married at the age of sixteen with parental consent but they cannot vote until they are eighteen. This is very conflicting because marriage is associated with adults. In Turkey a person can get married at the age of fourteen, the ages of doing a particular activity vary from place to place. The most unclear country is America because each state has it’s own rules and guidelines.
I have come to the conclusion that the state of childhood is socially constructed because of the huge variations between each country today. There are immense numbers of children still working in less developed countries whereas in western culture children are in full time education until they reach the age of sixteen, where they can make a decision to carry on learning. This is because in western society children are not needed to work which is where the difference lies with that of children in places like Africa, this comes back to the meaning of socially constructed. Throughout time childhood has adjusted to meet societies needs which is why four hundred years ago children in England would have been working instead of being in full time education.
