How Childhood Has Changed over the Centuries

In relation to the changing bases about(predicate) churlishness every transmit the centuries, there ar several points of discussion that arise. Many ideas surrounding the tack and evolved over the centuries, ideas such as the views towards education and the impact of the industrial transmutation on westerlys societies views towards babyishness, due to the limited space, this undertake lead focus on ii underlying issues which wee contributed bullyly to the changing ideas about puerility over the centuries, which are the quotation of childhood and pureness in western society and the extent to which childhood end-to-end history has been socially constructed.This establish will argue how the impression of childhood has changed over the centuries. Furthermore, this essay will outline that the concept of childhood throughout the centuries has been constructed from a disk operating system of adulthood. This essay will begin by exploring the in nary(prenominal)ence of c hildren and outlining the change in the recognition of childhood by western society. Following this, it will explore the great extent as to which childhood has been socially constructed and how it has shaped the concept of childhood in different eras.The idea of recognising and separating childhood from the adult world has had a complex history over the centuries. Depending on where you look for evidence and whichever come up to the history of childhood you adopt, the same end point is reached children today occupy a different status from that of the young in prior centuries and different cultures. ripe childhood as we k straight it is historically specific. According to tup (1960), the major(ip) difference between contemporary childhood and childhood in earlier periods is the lack of recognition of the concept of childhood.He goes on to say that as march on lynchpin as the medieval period, the idea of childhood was non-existent. This concept is universal throughout the ar tworks Aries uses as evidence for his findings. From these artworks, Aries (1960) argued that there was no concept of childhood rather, children were regarded as small adults. Based on this evidence, this conclusion about childhood cannot be fully drawn as artwork was often composed from a conceptual perspective and it cannot be employ as fact.It can however be argued that childhood was recognised as being non-existent due to the attitudes towards children of this era. In direct contrast, the innocence of a child was not socially recognised during medieval clocks, childhood was thought to be a stage of life which we as humans pass through. capital of Texas (2003) states that during the 18th and 19th century, the concept of childhood innocence was not so much recognised, but something that was looked back upon and was something that was lost.It was apparent that it was preserved, but due to degeneracy from the adult world, childhood nostalgia was now more prominent. This is eviden t in two literary works, Rousseau (1762) as wellk a view, as did Wordsworth (1802) that from a Neo-Platonist interpretation, it was possible to look back to childhood as a period of innocence during which children are innate(p) pure but corrupted through the guidance of the adult world. They further emphasised the need for freedom of children and for their protection by adults.As a declaration, this concept of childhood innocence and the preservation of it led to the development of the recognition of childhood and the role it plays within society. It is further led to development of compulsory schoolhouse and the move a substance from child labour as a result of the industrial revolution. A second key and underlying issue is the interview of the extent to which childhood has been socially constructed throughout history or whether it is only a stage of development that we as humans pass through.Aries (1960) rally argument is that post 17th century that childhood has been shaped by social face. It is argued that the mind of childhood is that it is not the same throughout the world and throughout history and how children differ from adults and how the social environment alters the way in which they are constructed. In western society, childhood is considered a cadence period of innocence and purity and it is something to be protected. It is characterised as a time of protection from the adult world and the concepts associated with adulthood, such as sexualisation, work and injury.With fictitious character to (Anti Essay 2012) as a result of these ideologies, children are expected to be educated and to be provided with care, nurturing and protection by their parents. However, in developing societies the idea of childhood is wholly opposed to that of the childhood of developed societies. The economical state within these developing societies controls the type of childhood these children experience. Children in developing societies are required to work to facilitate maintain their households economic tatus. This is also evident during the time of the industrial revolution, where children were seen to have to contribute to the miserliness of the household and to contribute to the income of society. Furthermore, the time frame in which a child lived altered the way in which they experienced childhood. As pointed out earlier, Aries (1960) stated that there was no concept of childhood until the 17th century, and as western society developed so did the way childhood was socially constructed.This can be seen throughout modern society, where now the protection of children and their innocence is taking over the place of child labour. Children and their innocence are now shielded from the adult world with laws and rules set in to place to help maintain their innocence and purity. For example, laws are now set in place to restrict what children watch and observe this was non-existent during earlier times. It can then be argued that childhood is a social construction.In conclusion, this essay has argued that the ideas about childhood have changed over the centuries due to development of the understanding of it. Childhood was previously not regarded as something to be recognised and that the innocence in which children possess was not socially realised as to be something to be nurtured. Rather, it not seen as something separate from the adult world. As western society developed, so too did the ideas surrounding childhood. The way in which the concept of childhood has been recognised and accept has been heavily influenced by the society in which the child lived.The social construction of that particular view towards childhood has led to the largest amount of change in relation to the ideas of childhood over the centuries. Therefore, it can be said that the ideas about childhood have changed significantly over the centuries and that with the change in the understanding in the importance of childhood, the concept will cont inually grow. References Aries, P 1960, Centuries of Childhood, trans. R Baldick, Jonathon Cape, LondonAustin, L M 2003, Children of Childhood Nostalgia and the Romantic Legacy, Studies in Romanticism, vol. 42, no. 1 (spring, 2003) CambridgeA November 26, 2008, Anti Essays, Childhood is a Social Construct, accessed 17 October 2012 Google Books, 2012, Emile, or on education John Jacques Rousseau, lucy141, January 26, 2011, Anti Essays, To What Extend Is Childhood A Social Construction, accessed 17 October 2012, Poets. org Poetry, Poems, Bios & More 2012, Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood 1804, accessed 15 October 2012