Childhood as a Social Construction

Abstract

Based on the notion of childhood as a social construction this paper aims to present and explore theoretically, the ideas and arguments, being offered by central theories within the paradigm of children and childhood research over the years. Using the approach of literature review the paper reinforces that childhood is socially constructed. It differs from society to society and context to context based on differences in cultures and believes. Also childhood differs even in the very same society depending on other social factors for example gender and social class. Not all societies in the world have the same concept of childhood, which proves that childhood is neither universal nor natural. In exploring about childhood as social construction, it has been attempted to explicate certain of the conceptions at the heart of social studies of children and childhood. So the essay begins with the basic conceit of childhood studies: what is a child? The very basic notion of “child” is connected to further through historical perspectives of childhood which further leads to accentuating the importance of childhood as a social construction.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2016.v6n2p75