The Evolution of the Concept of the Child Part 2: How Childhood Evolves

How Childhood Has Evolved

Conceptualisation, Socialisation, Maturation, Modernisation, Acculturation, Globalisation

Now that we understand the history and where we are now, let’s understand some of the underlying processes of how we got here. I used a couple of these words in Part 1, now let's explore a bit more what they mean and how they apply. All these “-tions” can become a bit confusing, so let’s break it down.

Conceptualisation refers to how something or someone is thought about or understood in the mind and even in public discourse and ideology. As you learn and things change, the way you conceptualise something changes. This is the same regarding children and their childhood. How society has thought of and, therefore, raised them has significantly changed. Understandings of their value, social purpose and value, capacity and capabilities have also changed in both good and bad ways. We have seen the weaponisation of children, as well as the better protection of their wellbeing.

There are three key elements that help us understand why and how the conceptualisation and practices surrounding childhood have evolved: Socialisation, maturation, and modernisation. Socialisation refers to children’s social contexts and cultures they are trained in. This determines how they are thought of, what is expected of them, and the beliefs they are raised to adopt. Maturation is the natural biological process involved in growth which are affected by social environment (more on this in Issue 2). We think about this when we discuss how in some ways childhood was ‘cut off’ by social expectation, like getting a job or stressful circumstances, for example, not allowing certain natural processes to run their course in a healthy way or letting children develop to the best of their abilities at certain developmental stages. Modernisation is all the big events and processes which shake up social structures and functioning, ideologies, and social positions. This is often meant to make life easier in some way or another. For example, modernisation includes the invention of the steam engine and better transport systems, formalised education, the rise of different industries, technological development, and social access. These things allowed newer job and living opportunities. In societies where your birth previously determined your status, position, and access, now opportunities have increased access for children and given them choice in the decisions they make concerning their futures. Modernisation changes how children are socialised because it changes society, and therefore, how children mature. Modernisation has also shifted the focus from mere survival (a big theme back then) to thinking more broadly about what childhood means and needs and encouraging development to run its course.

We cannot discuss modernisation without touching on colonisation, even if only briefly. Colonisation was the process of many European countries essentially taking over the rest of the world with a belief that they were superior and, therefore entitled to do so. Of course, imperialism had a similar base and effect, though the effects of colonisation are slightly more obvious for us to see. Through colonisation, we know that western values, beliefs, practises, and social structures were forced onto thousands of unique societies - including conceptualisations of childhood. While colonisers obviously did not value indigenous children and knowledge about children in the same way they valued their own, they allowed for some of their ideas on the value of children to be placed on the colonised. When countries gained their independence, many of these western, coloniser values stuck - for better or for worse.

These processes come together to form one, big, modern concept: Globalisation. Globalisation is about values, practices and lives changing and spreading through things like business, trade agreements, migration. Kind of like the world becoming smaller and more homogenous (the same) as countries become somewhat more dependent on one another. In the past, children were socialised very differently, mostly based on family situation, culture, religion, and class with the family unit playing a central role and being the main source of influence and access to the world. Today, cultural and societal differences melt away, and children get socialised differently, adopting different values, with families having different hopes and dreams for them and them being able to access more and different opportunities than the children of the past could. While some of this is very good, it has definitely had some negative results. Some social and moral values have slipped away more easily with the outside world and society having an equal or larger role in shaping the child and their values than the family.

In summary: society is structured a certain way with children being part of that society. Depending on their role in the society, they are conceptualised a certain way. How they are conceptualised together with the demands of the society, determines how they will be socialised and mature. As the society takes some big leaps, it modernises and life and its demands begin to change, which starts our process all over again. Some of those big leaps which have historically had and continue to have an impact on the evolution include colonisation and globalisation. All these affect the process of childhood in our social minds as well as practically. None of this is an absolute though, but a general process that the evolution of childhood has followed. There are societies and cultures which may not appear to be 'modernised', but who in many ways have nurtured their children's development in extremely healthy ways long before the west caught up. Now the west is looking to many of their practices to incorporate into modern understanding and social acceptance.

Social considerations

We need to understand where we have come from to amend the issues in our thinking today. Even though this evolution has taken largely similar paths across nations, we need to remember that this process happens at different paces across nations, and not always in the best ways (take the recent overdependence on technology, for example). There has been a lot of cross-cultural criticism about how certain cultures and societies think about their children and childhood particularly when they're not western societies. For example, the cultural idea of childhood ending around puberty or marriage, or even marriage as a way for family social advancement endures across cultures. These get criticised, forgetting that the history of childhood is complex and contains multiple social factors where poverty often plays a role. This is not to justify anything, but to remind us where we have come from and why and how. One writer explains it as considering certain behaviour as “appropriate behaviour in the circumstances”.

Another trend we see is that historically, there was more of a focus on seeing the child as the person they would be later on in life, the hopes their families and societies had for them, rather than appreciating and building up who they presently were. This was as families wanted their children to be better and come out of poverty - something we still see today. Family relationships were complex and very dependent on the social climate of the time. The same applies today and affects how families conceptualise their children. One family, from a socially unstable country for example, might feel their child needs to prioritise education or work more than play as it is often (understandably so) the only way to take them and their family out of poverty and make life easier overall. So, they may train the child to focus only on these things and scold playfulness, especially when the value of these things to development is not clearly understood. This, especially given our colonial history, is prominent in African and Eastern societies. We still see this trend of children being valued for their contribution to the family in much of the modern Global South where families tend to be more concerned with survival, than realising the ‘joys of childhood’. These children have less potential to realise their rights, but many times it should be understood and amended within context, rather than straight-up criticism.

History also shows us that once the basic survival needs have been taken care of, there is more flexibility to think about the other aspects surrounding the child. If we want to help families change the way they think about and treat their children, we need to ask ourselves, “are their basic needs being met? And if not, how can we fix that or protect the child in a culturally-sensitive way?”. These need to always be thought of when we consider how certain societies or families treat their children, whether it is right or not.

Looking to the Future - A Takeaway

Childhood is the interwoven idea of understanding capacity and capability, and social norms, needs, and expectations. It has evolved and continues to evolve in many, complex ways and there is so much to discuss and consider. When we discuss it, though, we cannot assume that it is a simple topic in a straight line with simple conclusions. There is the reality of social histories and agendas behind it which are unavoidable. These changes of history and concept have drastically changed how we think of development itself as a whole and suggest where we might be going in the future. Some values have endured, like children helping around the house, or preparing them for the future, while others have been rightly done away with.

Looking to the future, I cannot help but wonder where the concept of childhood is going with some concern - looking at modernisation and globalisation is a good way to begin to think about it. While there are massive strides in the right direction, I do worry that it’s taking us in a place that is not healthy. More and more familial, religious, moral, and cultural values continue to slip away and become more fluid around them and a homogenous society carries many dangers.

What are your thoughts? Are there any cultural ways of thinking about children or important points I have left out? Leave a comment below!

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