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A 3 page research paper that discusses how the concept of childhood is a social construct that evolved. Macro and micro forces in this evolution are described. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KL9_khsocconch.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
as having a distinctive social status that set them apart from the world of adults. Rather, children were expected to participate in society in accordance with their abilities, which was
the same standard that applied to adults (Desai, 2010). In other words, while biology determines the needs of infants and small children, the way in which children are regarded within
a society is matter of politics and culture, s well as biological development. This is evident when the macro-level processes, such as economic, social and political factors, as well micro-level
processes, that is, factors, such as relationships, interactions and language, pertaining to various eras are examined. Scholarship has pointed out that until the eighteenth century, children were kept close
to their mothers, protected and cherished until they were around six years of age (Desai, 2010). From that point onward, they were regarded as being rather like miniature adults and
were constantly engaged in some form of employment, as children were expected to contribute to the survival of the family as a whole (Desai, 2010). Eighteenth century French philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau is credited with the invention of the modern concept of childhood as a distinctive period in human development that has "particular needs" for "stimulation and education" (Desai, 2010, p.
12). The idea that childhood is a social construct was formulated by Philippe Aries in 1962 (King, 2007). Aries argued that while childhood is necessarily restricted by the biological
and psychological phases of development, how childhood development has been understood has varied with time and culture and this necessarily affected how both adults and children experience it (King, 2007).
According to Aries, there were elements in Renaissance Italy and Reformation Germany that suggest the evolution of this viewpoint, but that the modern concept of childhood first emerged in seventeenth
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