Childhood and its social foundation

Childhood and Social Construction

Childhood is built on a social foundation. The growth of any child from childhood through adolescence is based on what society considers proper. It does not invalidate the distinction between childhood and adolescence (James and Prout, 2015, p. 81). However, they are mostly formed by each child’s social construct during childhood. It is critical to evaluate the social contribution of children from childhood to adolescence. Locke published a paper in 1963 claiming that neonatal corruption is a function of socialization. Locke affirmed that children are born at a status of Tabula rasa, and therefore, any corruption in their physique perception is not from themselves, but, from the cultural and historical background (Locke, 2017, n.p). Since the 19th century, the social constructs have exposed the childhood discourse of a romantic child and schooled child to deviate the perception of the society towards the childhood discourse. Hence, there has resulted in a realization of factors such as gender, ethnicity, class, and disability that defines childhood discourse in social construct’s perception.

Romantic Child and Influential Impression

The First document is written by Locke (1963) which views Childhood and innocence as the same thing (Locke, 2017, n.p). It asserts that; children are born pure and innocent. His ideas on the influential impression referred to as the romantic ideal brings us to the understanding the kid as an innocent creature that starts living its childhood with a blank mind. Kids are guiltless, and the society orients them to whatever they come to reveal in their later ages of adolescence to maturity. However, factors such as poverty, ethnicity, class and gender influence the development and construct of an individual child has challenged romanticism childhood (Locke, 2017, n.p). The stratification in the society affects the stratification of the kids as a socially constricted inferior group. Children who are brought up in wealthy families were capable of working in factories and mines while they were still young because they could make long journeys and withstand tough labors. Children from low-income families were affected by poverty, and they were unable to work in the mines appropriately. On the same note, the female gender was weaker in working in the mines, unlike the boys who would comfortably manage hard and harsh labor. All these children worked for their households. They become “factory child.” However, they were exposed to very harsh labor against the children rights. While the romantic child portrays it as an abuse of basic child rights, Evangelical child portrays it as a consequence of the sin of the parents and as well of the child who is born a sinner (Jensen and McKenzie, 2016, p.446).

Ragged School and Preparation

In the Ragged School, Lee, (2014) presents Charles Dickens’s views of childhood as a period of preparation or apprenticeship for later work. In the society, there are some settings where children do not have good access to the school or learning facilities. The condition constructs children participation, socialization, and achievements that he is exposed to. The child’s behavior is not an exception as well. Charles Dickens visits a ragged school where the conditions are worse for learning. According to Dickens, the streets were very narrow and muddy; bad odor impregnated the air, there was also small shops and the only heap of a stalk that seemed to be there was the heap of little children (Locke, 2017, n.p). Dickens visited this school that aimed at improving the academic levels of the less fortunate or rather, the poor. Dickens ends up calling mothers, and fathers, to clothe and bring up their offspring and to teach them all wisdom, true religion and the love of God (Lee, 2014, n.p). The situation in the rugged schools depicts a poverty-stricken environment. The people around the rugged schools are not in a position to develop their children or help them grow academically. Poverty seems to construct the capabilities of these children to undergo a complete and enjoyable childhood (Cojocaru, 2009, p.87). The school child is entitled to absorb the knowledge disseminated to him and produce this knowledge of the mainstream culture. Acquisition of this knowledge is a process, in fact, it is a social process that requires efforts by the people as well as by the educators. On the same point, the schooled child is an active learner and also an interactive cultural space which means that the learner should be able to relate to the society and everybody around them. Dickens shows fear for the people who are not educated and by so doing, he expresses his hope and faith in schooling and 19th century, 1846, he recalled a visit to Ragged School which later opened in the year 1842. This time, children would be taught orally by a voluntary teacher. Therefore, the London society that Dickens describes is a revelation of an endeavor to socially and historically construct the childhood social base through education (Warren, 2011, p.55).

Families and Ancestors

In the log book, Wilke (2013) depicts the influence of families and ancestors to the romanticism of the childhood. Wilke’s statement, “tracing your ancestors” seeks to trace the origin of what children share from the social construct of the family background. Experiences in the rugged schools is similar to Wilke’s and e-commissioner report that describes the 19th-century romantic child in classroom and with an instructor sharing morals in National, British and Roman Catholic schools. Wilke (2013) describes the situation where children grew in violent societies corporal punishment in homes and schools. Poor families are in both cases unable to offer good parenting to the children, thus, children petty offenses prevail. The society and the environment ends up making the welfare child. The romantic childhood depletes for issues about poverty and gender as males are more affected (Wilke, 2013, p.94).

Children’s Health and Working Environments

Leifchild’s (2009) commission report depicted an effect of children’s health as a result of working environments. Kids who worked with their public assistance and their working is compatible. (James and Prout p.221). The reason as to why kids from work into school is to have the inquiries of what fits them; school or famishment. Kids should not be ignored while providing services as they give a significant contribution in many states. It defines what social construct is made by the childhood cultural and historical background (Heywood, 2013, n.p). In the 19th century, childhood, for a romantic child and schooled child discourse had little variation, but recently, the gap has widened due to the dynamism of society (Thomson, P., 2008). With informal education, what was acquired through social dissemination shaped the working abilities and attitudes of children (James, 2012, p.112). However, with this workload, children were at high risks of losing their life, dying at a very tender age and also other types of illness.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Victorian era to the Edwardian era and the present, childhood is treated as a social construction based on historical and cultural grounds (Nagayach and Singh, 2017, p.53). Romantic child and schooled child are two discourses that address child in the mentioned era as young, and working adults who do different works and perform different activities based on the social believes and norms. As Romanticism affirms the blankness and innocence of childhood, criticism and other discourses such as Evangelical child and schooled child reveals childhood to look just like for the case of the adulthood where tasks are assigned equally and for all. In the Victorian era, the Ragged child is limited by resources, success and the children are described as rugged, while more success characterizes the Edwardian era, and the fruits of the rugged school initiative seems to bear good fruits.

References

Cojocaru, D. 2009. Challenges of childhood social research. Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala, 26, 87-98.

Heywood, C., 2013. A history of childhood: children and childhood in the West from medieval to modern times. John Wiley & Sons.

James, A. and Prout, A. eds., 2015. Constructing and reconstructing childhood: Contemporary issues in the sociological study of childhood. Routledge.

James, A., 2012. Child-Centredness’ and ‘the Child. In The Modern Child and the Flexible Labour Market (pp. 111-127). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Jensen, L.A. and McKenzie, J., 2016. The Moral Reasoning of US Evangelical and Mainline Protestant Children, Adolescents, and Adults: A Cultural–Developmental Study. Child development, 87(2), pp.446-464.

Lee, I., (2014, May 14th). Ragged Schools, Article. Retrieved from: https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/ragged-schools

Leifchild’s, (2009). M.R., Reviews—Leifchild—Coal at Some and Abroad. 39. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756800172784

Locke, J., 2017. ‘In 1693 Locke published ‘Some thoughts concerning. Article, Retrieved from: https://nwaconference.org/in-1693-locke-published-some-thoughts-concerning-1483/

Morrow, V. 2011, Understanding children and childhood, University of London

Nagayach, R. and Singh, C., 2017. Views of Dickens on Education during the Victorian Age.

Thomson, P., 2008. Children and young people. Doing visual research with children and young people, p.1.

Warren, A., 2011. Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Wilkies, S., 2013. Tracing Your Ancestors’ Childhood: A Guide for Family Historians