Centuries Of Childhood Summary

532 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Introduction to childhood as a modern construct

Review on Centuries of Childhood
In Centuries of Childhood, Philippe Ariès focused on a specific aspect of childhood in history and discussed the ever-changing concept of childhood over time. Philippe Ariès examined notable ideas of childhood in historical times including medieval society, in the fourteenth century, and in seventeenth century to illustrate the transformation of the concept. Philippe Ariès believed the idea of childhood progressed from “did not exist” to “coddling” and “fragile creatures of God” (P 133). Philippe Ariès’s theory was straightforward and convincing to readers since he provided with significant supports such as historical documents, diaries, and books in the time period. Philippe Ariès started with a bold theory …show more content…

Ariès’ theory was quite recognizable by the readers since he illustrated the creation of the concept and historical conception change through examining art work, diaries, letters, and literature in each historical period. However, Philippe Ariès’ theory was acceptable in the overall level except for few issues in question. Firstly, Philippe Ariès focused on the changes in the educational system while potentially underestimated factors of major social, scientific, economic, and political changes from medical era to the seventeenth century. The western society had experienced significant changes in almost every aspects in hundreds of years. Secondly, Ariès’ examinations on the life in medieval society was largely built on depictions from Heroard’s diary and Ariès’ description on life in seventeenth century was depending on J.B de La Salle’s novel. These evidences were largely artworks and may potentially aimed to serve in other purposes. They were not as convincing as historical journals. Overall, Philippe Ariès’ Centuries of Childhood was a fascinating work which help readers study the history of the concept of Childhood and revoked readers to analyze the concept in more details and

Show More
Related

  • Unequal Childhoods Chapter Summary

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, Annette Lareau discussed the extensive amount of research she conducted employing observational and interview techniques. She collected data on the middle class, working class, and poor families. She was trying to understand the impact of a child’s early parental guidance on the child’s life. She was able to conduct this research with 12 families, all of whom had fourth graders. She gathered enough information to conclude the major differences in the parenting styles of each type of family, which was directly correlated to socioeconomic status. Annette Lareau opens her book with two chapters to give the reader an idea on what the examples she gives will detail.

    Read More

  • Laocoon’s Children and the Limits of Representation

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    In modern society, both the abstract and concrete representations of children are intertwined with the themes associated with happiness, innocence, ignorance, gullibility, and the allure of youth. But, if I may for a moment mimic Caroline Vout’s presentation of her arguments by asking, how does today’s current view of children differ from the non-linguistic representations of children in ancient times? If one was to rewind time while focusing solely on the exemplification of children in ancient Greek and Rome, they would discover that presumably there is a degradation of the importance of the child in society. The previously mentioned Caroline Vout supplies the fact that the great philosopher Aristotle believed that “[children were] virtually denied human status on the grounds of their diminished faculty of deliberation.” This thought process is obviously contradictory to the widely accepted opinion of children in today’s modern society. With the assistance of multiple sculptures, frescos, and drawings, Vout utilizes rhetorical questions to engage the reader in her arguments concerning the portrayal of children during the Hellenistic period.

    Read More

  • Book Analysis Of Unequal Childhoods

    1678 Words  | 4 Pages

    The book Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life published in 2003, takes a close look into the lives of different families in the United States and how they are affected by race and social class and how their family lives differ. The Author, Annette Lareau, discusses how social class affects the parenting styles and how these parenting styles are affecting the children. Although Lareau’s book could use a few changes, it is well written and it is a good read to help better understand how social class and parenting styles can affect the lives of different children on a personal level. In

    Read More

  • Child Welfare Policy in Canada

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Maybin, J. &Woodhead, M. (2003). Childhoods in context. Southern Gate, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd

    Read More

  • The Evolution of Childhood in Europe and America

    2081 Words  | 5 Pages

    Somewhere around the beginning of the seventeenth century, the perception of the nature of childhood -- its duration, its perceived purpose, its requirements, its quality -- changed rather significantly in the Eurocentric world, a period Valerie Suransky identifies as a watershed for the modern notion of childhood (1982, p. 6). Actually, two things seemed to have happened: first, the idea of childhood as a separate developmental stage began to arise; second, the idea of who was deserving of childhood also began to broaden. The pattern was similar in Europe and America, with some minor variations which resulted from geography, religion, etc., but the differences are inconsequential. Generally speaking, the factors which influenced this change are the view of the nature of humankind, the development of industry, urbanization, parents themselves, and the women's movement.

    Read More

  • Middle Childhood to Adolescents

    1935 Words  | 4 Pages

    The text depicts a historical perspective on Middle Childhood, as during the twentieth century, children were viewed primarily as an economic source of income, in terms of providing for the family. According to the text this happens often in European counties and in parts of the United States. Elizabeth D. Hutchinson, Dimensions of Human Behavior The Changing Life Course 3rd, 2008. In this short review we will look at how this historical perspective in itself is not a question to how, but when these individual give.

    Read More

  • Voices In The Park by Browne, Mortal Engines by Reeve and Little Women by Alcott

    2659 Words  | 6 Pages

    ‘Some idea of a child or childhood motivates writers and determines both the form and content of what they write.’ -- Hunt The above statement is incomplete, as Hunt not only states that the writer has an idea of a child but in the concluding part, he states that the reader also has their own assumptions and perceptions of a child and childhood. Therefore, in order to consider Hunt’s statement, this essay will look at the different ideologies surrounding the concept of a child and childhood, the form and content in which writers inform the reader about their ideas of childhood concluding with what the selected set books state about childhood in particular gender. The set books used are Voices In The Park by Browne, Mortal Engines by Reeve and Little Women by Alcott to illustrate different formats, authorial craft and concepts about childhood. For clarity, the page numbers used in Voices In The Park are ordinal (1-30) starting at Voice 1.

    Read More

  • Childhood as a Social and Historical Construction

    2111 Words  | 5 Pages

    Childhood can be seen as a social status with multiple meanings and expectations attached to it without a clearly defined end or beginning (Montgomery 2009), This essay will introduce different sociological perspectives on what childhood is since childhood is not universal rather is it mobile and shifting this means children experience various childhoods there are local and global variations(Waller 2009), a Childs experience can be influenced by their gender, ethnicity, culture and social class which this essay will expand on. The essay will then move forward to focusing on childhood in local and global countries to investigate the differences they have among each other lastly the essay will go onto ways an professional can help acknowledge all children diversity and create an inclusive environment regardless of their differences (Penn 2008).inclusion provides support to all children so that their experiences in an educational; setting encourages them to be as involved and independent as possible as well as help them understand the differences among their class mates

    Read More

  • Three Stages Of Adulthood

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    Childhood is one of the first biological life cycles we encounter. The experience that we go through shape what we will become. Here in America, as we began to industrialize, we began to have a different view of what childhood should be than in other parts of the world. In Taiwan and in Indonesia athletic shoes are made by children who work in factories instead of going to school. About 215 million of the world’s children work typical long hours for low wages. People in America might find this disturbing because we think of childhood as the first 12 years of life a carefree time of learning and play. But according to historian Philippe Aries (1965) explains, the whole idea of childhood is fairly new. During the middle ages, children of 4 and

    Read More

  • Childhood Essay

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Back in the twelfth century Philippe Aries argued that in Medieval times there was barely any place for childhood in sense that Medieval art lacked the portrayal of, or did not care to include, how children were raised, educated, clothed, etc. In support to his argument, Ariés stated “Yet, the miniaturist has grouped had grouped around Jesus what are obviously eight men, without any of the characteristics of childhood; they have simply been depicted on a smaller scale” (Ariés pg. 9). This quote states that children were sometimes depicted in these paintings yet, they were still absent from the illustrations. That is because children appeared as men with fully developed masculine features, but are reduced to a smaller scale than the

    Read More

  • Importance Of Listening To Children

    2552 Words  | 6 Pages

    Childhood is a highly contested model because its meaning and interpretation varies from person to person as it is influenced by cultural-heritage, family-background and experiences (Alderson, 1995). For instance, the United Nations’ Convention on Rights of the Child (1989) defined children as everyone under the age of eighteen. Additionally, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (2005) postulated that the period of childhood is a special period during which a child should learn how to live and survive the world through schooling, playing, as they grow strong and develop their confidence with the affection and support fr...

    Read More

  • Essay On Disappearance Of Childhood

    2698 Words  | 6 Pages

    There are proponents of the debate that childhood is disappearing which will be discussed in this section which include Postman (1983), Elkind (1981) and Palmer (2006). In considering these points of view which are mostly American, one must firstly set in context what is meant by the disappearance or erosion of childhood. This key debate centres on Postman (1983) who wrote “The disappearance of childhood” which is a contentious book about how childhood as a social category which is separate from adulthood is eroding. He defines a point where childhood came into existence, which was treated as a special phase in the middle ages based on the work of Aries in his book “Centuries of childhood” (1962, cited in Postman 1983). According to Postman, a major influence on how childhood was perceived differently to adulthood was the invention of the printing press and literacy in the mid sixteenth century. That is to say children had to learn to read before the secrets of adulthood in particular sex and violence was available...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Lost Childhood By Yehuda Nir

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Childhood is a powerful and important time for all humans. As a child, the things one sees and hears influences the choices and decisions they make in the future. “How a child develops during early and middle childhood years affects future cognitive, social, emotional, language, and physical development, which in turn influences their trust and confidence for later success in life” (Early and Middle Childhood). Yehuda Nir’s, The Lost Childhood is a first person memoir based on the life of a youthful Jewish child who survived the Holocaust. Taking place from pre-World War II 1939, to post-World War II 1945, this memoir highlights the despicable things done during one of the darkest times in modern history. Prior to being published in October

    Read More

  • The Concept of Childhood Innocence

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abstract In this essay, I intend to explain how everyday lives challenge the construction of childhood as a time of innocence. In the main part of my assignment, I will explain the idea of innocence, which started with Romantic discourse of childhood and how it shaped our view of childhood. I will also look at two contradictory ideas of childhood innocence and guilt in Blake’s poems and extract from Mayhew’s book. Next, I will compare the images of innocence in TV adverts and Barnardo’s posters. After that, I will look at the representation of childhood innocence in sexuality and criminality, and the roles the age and the gender play in portraying children as innocent or guilty. I will include some cross-cultural and contemporary descriptions on the key topics. At the end of my assignment, I will summarize the main points of the arguments.

    Read More

  • Physical and Motor Development in Preschool Children

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., & Feldman, R. D. (2008). A Child's World: Infancy through Adolescence. (11th ed.). Asheville, NC: McGraw-Hill Primis.

    Read More

More about Centuries Of Childhood Summary

Open Document