welcome to this tutor to you sociology topic video looking at childhood focusing on the social construction of childhood what do sociologists mean when they say that childhood is socially constructed what they mean is the childhood is not a biological age from our births to a specific age for example 18. they suggest childhood is defined by the social characteristics of the society that the child lives in in other words our definition of what childhood is can be defined by the cultural background of the child or what period of time they're living in it can be defined by the social class of the family or the child's gender it can also differ between ethnic groups and in this video we're going to examine some of the differences in childhood experience between these groups first of all we'll look at cultural backgrounds while in the uk childhood is often seen as a time of innocence in a time when children are learning to take their place in society this is not the same globally in 2013 the international labour organization estimated there were 168 million children engaged in child labour now this varies from working in agriculture to working in factories around the same time whiteness estimated there were three hundred thousand child soldiers active in conflicts around the world particularly in central and eastern africa it's also estimated by unicef that globally one in ten girls experience sexual violence and that 95 000 children are murdered each year older research found variations in the way that children interact with their parents and other adults benedict found that in samoa there was very little differentiation between adults and children and children were expected to contribute towards society much in the same way adults would ares examined the changing status of children through time tracing childhood from the middle ages to the late modern era aerys found that there was little differentiation between adults and children until the industrial era with the introduction of compulsory schooling and the advent of child labour laws that separated children and adults aries also found that a decrease in infant mortality as society advanced had led to less children being born and to a shift to a more child-centered society in the early industrial era many children were not expected to survive into adulthood and therefore parents had weaker bonds with them as medical and technological advances reduced infant mortality stronger bonds developed between parents and their children there are also social class differences in childhood particularly in the uk the child poverty action group in 2019 estimated that there were 4.2 million children in the uk living in poverty and that this was estimated to rise to 5.2 million by 2022 according to the department for education only 1.2 million of these were eligible for free school meals and the period of austerity in the uk has highlighted many social issues facing children and young people the use of food banks and campaigns to highlight period poverty and holiday hunger demonstrate that childhood is not a time of innocence and freedom for many children the cumulative impacts of deprivation impact on health education moral and spiritual development of children with life expectancy for children born in the most deprived areas significantly lower than those in the least deprived areas a child's gender also has impacts on how they perceive childhood mcrobbie has suggested that parents are more likely to display excessive control over their daughters in comparison to their sons moral panics in the media about the behavior of children and those that prey upon them has heightened the control parents have over children particularly female children gender socialization will also lead to different experiences of childhood for boys and girls while girls may achieve higher educational outcomes this comes at a price of developing lower self-esteem because of the controls and expectations that are placed on them by schools boys on the other hand are susceptible to becoming victims of a crisis of masculinity with reduced opportunities for traditional masculine jobs and their character traits being rejected by the feminisation of education boys often seek approval by other means in recent years there have become concerns of the impacts of this on body's mental health and how this might translate into problems with mental health issues in later life another factor influencing the childhood experience is ethnic background bharti highlighted the stricter controls of indian and pakistani parents over their children but also mentioned how the family acts as a support network for children particularly with in their education and later in their careers chinese students are also seen as having stricter controls in their activities with families investing time and money into their children's future in order to help them achieve educational success another influence of childhood is the presence of racism both overt and institutional ethnic minority students are likely to face racist abuse from their peers in school and this influences their engagement with education according to client at al institutional racism is also more likely to impact on the experience of black caribbean boys in both education and in treatment from the police however some sociologists have suggested that we're moving towards a western notion of childhood miles suggested the globalization of society has led to people examining childhood through the lens of western expertise this has led to a process of trying to preserve the rights of children based upon the western experience of childhood less children are being born globally than in the past with many nations still going through what is described as the demographic transition model moving from large families to smaller more compact families with less children and this is increasingly being seen as the norm particularly given the spread of globalized culture based on traditional ideas of family life and a nuclear family all of this leads to a potential future of a more standardized childhood one where children globally will have similar experiences within a period of childhood usually based upon the early years of life that concludes this tutor to you sociology topic video on childhood examining the social construction of childhood thanks for watching