To What Extent Has Child Development Been Seen as a Social Process?
To what extent has children’s development been viewed as a social process?
“Childhood is not just about personal experiences. Childhood is an important social category which defines children’s activities and experiences.” (Woodhead, Chapter 1, p.15)
Childhood has been viewed in many different ways throughout Western history. Due to the introduction and influence of the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989), social attitudes towards childhood have dramatically changed over recent decades. The convention’s underlying principle is that children have the right to develop. Every culture has a different view of ‘childhood’; it might be defined by education, gender, ethnicity, role, status or social background. Many contemporary theorists recognise that each individual experience of childhood depends on how the child is shaped by their environment. This includes how society influences and understands the needs of the child and the way in which they are influenced by the people around them.
“The immaturity of children is a biological fact but the ways in which that immaturity is understood is a fact of culture . . . childhood is . . . constructed and reconstructed both for and by children” (James and Prout, 1997, Chapter 1, p.15)
This quote indicates that childhood is not only a changing, but also a developing process – one that is continually constructed and reconstructed. Is children’s development something that they are genetically predisposed to or is the fact that it is reconstructed an indicator that other factors are also important in it?
But what evidence is there to support either one of these views and how significant is this research into answering the question of whether children’s development is viewed as a social process? Is childhood merely a natural process, is it the result of environmental influences or is it an interaction between the two?
By looking back to the main historical perspectives of child
“Childhood is not just about personal experiences. Childhood is an important social category which defines children’s activities and experiences.” (Woodhead, Chapter 1, p.15)
Childhood has been viewed in many different ways throughout Western history. Due to the introduction and influence of the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989), social attitudes towards childhood have dramatically changed over recent decades. The convention’s underlying principle is that children have the right to develop. Every culture has a different view of ‘childhood’; it might be defined by education, gender, ethnicity, role, status or social background. Many contemporary theorists recognise that each individual experience of childhood depends on how the child is shaped by their environment. This includes how society influences and understands the needs of the child and the way in which they are influenced by the people around them.
“The immaturity of children is a biological fact but the ways in which that immaturity is understood is a fact of culture . . . childhood is . . . constructed and reconstructed both for and by children” (James and Prout, 1997, Chapter 1, p.15)
This quote indicates that childhood is not only a changing, but also a developing process – one that is continually constructed and reconstructed. Is children’s development something that they are genetically predisposed to or is the fact that it is reconstructed an indicator that other factors are also important in it?
But what evidence is there to support either one of these views and how significant is this research into answering the question of whether children’s development is viewed as a social process? Is childhood merely a natural process, is it the result of environmental influences or is it an interaction between the two?
By looking back to the main historical perspectives of child
References: Aries, P. (1962) cited in Woodhead, M. (2005), p.18 Froebel, F Hobbes, T. (1588-1679) cited in Woodhead, M. (2005), p.30 James, A Kant, I. (1724-1804) cited in Woodhead, M. (2005), p.32 Locke, J Rousseau, J. (1712-78) cited in Woodhead, M. (2005), p.31 Sharhar, S Super, C. and Harkness, S. (1986), Reading: Work, play and learning in the lives of young children’ in Woodhead, M. (2005), p.44 United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), 1989 Wesley, S. (1782) quoted in Montgomery, 2003, p.63, cited in Woodhead, M. (2005), p.30 Whiting, B Woodhead, M. (1998) cited in Woodhead, M. (2005), p.31 Woodhead, M