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Lecture 5Social Constructions of Childhood

Where we are at….Module 1: National and International Contexts of Education

• Education Policy• Neo-liberalism• Neo-conservatism• Globalisation• Competition and Marketisation (public versus private)

Module 2: Local and Personal Contexts of Schools and Classrooms

• Social constructions of childhood• Social class in and out of the classroom• Gender and sexuality in and out of the classroom• Race and ethnicity in and out of the classroom• Indigeneity in and out of the classroom

Contexts of Education

International and National Context

(policy, globalisation, neo-liberalism

etc.)Local and

Personal Context(schools,

classrooms, identities and

social relations)

Both these contexts define who people can

be in our education system.

Who students are and who students can be, are

shaped by their educational experiences.

Students life chances and opportunities are directly related to the

advantages and disadvantages they are

exposed to as a result of their schooling

Today’s LectureSocial Constructions

Social Constructions and Subjectivity

Social Constructions and Discourse

Social Constructions of Childhood

Constructions of Childhood and Schooling

Implications for teachers

We are essentially social creatures. We all live and interact in social situations BUT we often accept the everyday without question. Sociology offers us a new perspective on the ‘everyday’, the ‘common-sense’ and draws our attention to the ‘significance’ of the seemingly ‘insignificant’

Social Construction

Social constructions are unwritten and often unspoken rules that determine accepted ways of ‘being’

Social construction refers to the way we make and share meaning and understandings through social interaction with others.

Our reality is shaped by shared social constructions – language, food, gestures and even people are socially constructed.

Language

DOG APPLE

Food

Gender

Social ConstructionsMeaning does not come out of nowhere – rather it is derived

from people making claims about what something means

Meaning can differ within and between cultures and according to gender, class and so on

Social Construction of PeopleIn socially constructing people, we create categories and ideas (discourses) about what

people in specific categories are like, or should be like. These ideas can pertain to beliefs, thoughts and actions

Discourse• A way of thinking and speaking about people and society• The way of thinking and speaking becomes dominant and normal (ie. the social

norm)• Discourse becomes a powerful way of constructing people’s subjectivities

We become social subjects by being named and categorised in various ways – as black or white, male or female, gay or straight, child or adult. In this sense we literally become what we are named AND we become subject to the power of social institutions and processes that discipline us on the basis of being those types of subjects

Dominant Discourse

Disruption…..

Subjectivity as Socially ConstructedSubjectivity

Our identity or self and the cultural, social and personal processes by which the self is formed

Our subjectivity is socially constructed by our social contexts:

EthnicityGender

ClassSexuality

These contexts makes us who we are and both enable and disenable us from doing certain things

The ‘Nipple’

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I4CF1StGkc

Social constructions matter…..• Social constructions matter because they are collectively held beliefs that

are not easily changed• Who we are named and recognised as in society often establishes our

worth in that society

AND SO SOCIAL INEQUALITY BECOMES THE BASIS OF OUR SUBJECTIVITIES

BUT• We are not powerless and play an active role in the construction of our

own identities • Sometimes though it is practically impossible for the individual to break

out of our social confines

Schooling Subjectivities

Who we are named and recognised as establishes our worth in that school

AND SOSocial inequalities are also at the basis of students’

schooling subjectivities

Just think about how a school might make students into certain kinds of subjects – the ‘gifted kid’, the ‘ADHD kid’, the ‘shy kid’, the ‘bully’, the ‘popular kid’, the ‘loser’, the ‘pretty kid’, the ‘sporty kid’ and so on…

ANDHow students are separated on the basis of their subjectivities

Your role as a teacher…• Who you perceive your students to be in the classroom can influence how

you talk to them, how you teach them and how you relate to them

• How your students perceive you makes a difference to how they are going to learn – and potentially what kind of people they become

• Schooling has the ability to make ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of their students

No student is really a ‘winner’ or ‘loser’. Rather, it is the schooling system that can infer they are one or the other. This means, we can work to unlock our

students from set roles and narrowed expectations…

What is childhood?Childhood is a social construct – meaning different things in different

times and places

There are different ways of thinking about childhood (discourses)

1. How might discourses about childhood play out in schooling?2. How might the way you think about childhood influence your

professional practice?3. Might there be a different way of thinking about the children you

teach to ensure you maintain a socially just classroom?

Discourses of Childhood

innocent natural unruly immature

intelligent capable asexual vulnerable

Childhood

Social Constructions of Childhood• Biology ensures the concept of a ‘child’ exists in all societies

• Childhood is and has been understood differently according to time, place, gender, race and class

• The meaning of childhood must be understood as socially constructed and contextually specific in nature, rather than as a biological or universal fact

• Childhood is constructed in the social milieu of particular communities and cultures

A Western ChildhoodA western childhood has been sentimentalised, idealised and conceptualised

as a time of social dependency, asexuality and inherent innocence

Childhood is characterised by an obligation to be happy and a period in which children are to be free from adult responsibilities and behaviours and protected from the real world of sexual, economic and public action

Constructions of Childhood and Influence on Schooling

The introduction of mass compulsory schooling in the later part of the nineteenth century occurred in response to a number of social changes at this time

– Changing sentiment towards children – Introduction of Factory Acts– Increased government concern with national-building, the economy and individual nation’s social

progress

The structure and role of schooling in the 20th century replicated the evolving western social construction of childhood

– Developmentalism: schools were aged based institutions organised into classes influenced by theories of chronological development

– Socialisation: education was considered fundamental to the process of preparing children for their place in society

Schooling Now…Still tends to reflect these understandings

Criticisms• Institutionalise the idea of children as incomplete social actors • Situates children as amoral and ignorant• Creates situations of power as adults are responsible for steering children

from ‘becomings to beings’• Ignores variations in childhood – gender, cultural background, family

backgrounds and strategies

THUS SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF CHILDHOOD – REFLECTED IN THE ORGANSIATION AND PROCESSES OF SCHOOLING – CAN DISADVANTAGE

PARTICULAR CHILDREN WHO DO NOT FIT THE MOULD

Childhood in ‘Crisis’• “Disappearing Child” the influence of the media (Postman)

• “Hurried Child pressured into adult perspectives (Elkind)

• “Hyper-parenting” the over-scheduling of children (Rosenfeld & Wise)

Implications for Teachers• Changes in social constructions transform social life

• Teachers need to recognise and respectfully respond to a variety of ‘childhoods’ by being aware and responding to the diverse backgrounds of students in spite of commonly accepted social constructions

• Teachers can never settle for a one-size-fits- all approach

Understanding the social construction of reality with relation to ‘childhood’ is central to the formation of a ‘socially just’ classroom

ReferencesAries, P. (1960). Centuries of childhood. Hammondsworth: Penguin EducationCambpell, G. (2004). The structure of slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia. London: Frank Cass.Connell, R., Campbell, C., Vickers, M., Welch, A., Foley, D., Bagnall, N., & Hayes, D. (2010). Education,

change and society, 2nd edition, South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press.Elkind, D. (2007). The Hurried Child: Growing up too soon too fast. Cambridge: Perseus Books Group. Johnny, L. (2006). Reconceptualising childhood: Children’s rights and youth participation in schools.

International Education Journal. 7(1), 17-25.Lancy, D. (2008). The anthropology of childhood: Cherubs, chattel, changelings. New York: Cambridge.Monforte, T. M. (2007). Razing Child Soldiers. Journal of Comparative Poetics. (27), pp. 169+Postman, N. (1994). The disappearance of childhood. Vintage.Rosenfield, A.A. & Wise, N. (2001). The Over-scheduled child: Avoiding the hyper-parenting trap. New

York : St Martins Press.Prout, A. (2005). The Future of Childhood. RoutledgeFalmer: Oxon, UK.Stearns, P. N. (2005). Conclusion: Change, globalisation and childhood. Journal of Social History. (38)4.

pp. 1041Wyness, M. (2011). Childhood and Society. Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan.