The Basic Tenets of the New Sociology of Childhood
Discuss the basic tenants and evaluate the utility of the new sociology of childhood in gaining a better understanding of young people.
Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence and its non-specific for it can imply a varying range of years in human development reference. The age ranges anywhere from 12 years to 15years with 18years being most common. Previous research done by sociologists focused on children primarily in terms of socialization and within the context of the family. The ‘new sociology of childhood’ argues that children inhabit more than one world, worlds that may well conflict those of adults, those of children 's own making, and those that children create with other children . Sociological exploration of social worlds as children understand and experience them expands understanding of children beyond the limits of the concepts of socialization and development.
The new “sociology of childhood” brought about fundamental issues which previously were academically deliberately ignored. In this essay the discussion focuses on evaluating and analyzing the basic tenants that the new sociology of childhood unearthed. These include social constructivism of childhood, childhood as a separate variable of social analysis, importance of children’s social relationship and culture independent of adult concerns, active participation of children in the construction and determination of their social world, importance of ethnography as a methodology for the study of childhood and the childhood as a phenomenon in relation to which the double hermeneutic of the social sciences acutely present (Prout and James 1990:9). Furthermore the discussion will attempt to elucidate on how these tenets have enhanced a new understanding of young people within the realms social sciences area in general and sociology in particular.
In simple terms the definition of childhood refers to a period before adulthood.
Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence and its non-specific for it can imply a varying range of years in human development reference. The age ranges anywhere from 12 years to 15years with 18years being most common. Previous research done by sociologists focused on children primarily in terms of socialization and within the context of the family. The ‘new sociology of childhood’ argues that children inhabit more than one world, worlds that may well conflict those of adults, those of children 's own making, and those that children create with other children . Sociological exploration of social worlds as children understand and experience them expands understanding of children beyond the limits of the concepts of socialization and development.
The new “sociology of childhood” brought about fundamental issues which previously were academically deliberately ignored. In this essay the discussion focuses on evaluating and analyzing the basic tenants that the new sociology of childhood unearthed. These include social constructivism of childhood, childhood as a separate variable of social analysis, importance of children’s social relationship and culture independent of adult concerns, active participation of children in the construction and determination of their social world, importance of ethnography as a methodology for the study of childhood and the childhood as a phenomenon in relation to which the double hermeneutic of the social sciences acutely present (Prout and James 1990:9). Furthermore the discussion will attempt to elucidate on how these tenets have enhanced a new understanding of young people within the realms social sciences area in general and sociology in particular.
In simple terms the definition of childhood refers to a period before adulthood.
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