Nathan Loynes1

1. Explain and differentiate between Positivism and Interpretivist Sociology.

2. Explain the origins of the social construction paradigm

3. Point out key points of the ‘social construction of childhood approach’

4. Consider the practice implications of adopting a social constructivist stance.

Sources:• Berger and Luckman, 1966, The social construction of reality, New York, Doubleday.• Haralambos and Holborn, 2013, Sociology 8th Edition, London, Harper-Collins.• Morrs, 2002, The several social constructions of James, Jenks and Prout,

International Journal of children's rights 10:39-54• Stainton-Rogers, 2001, Constructing child concern, in Foley, Tucker, Roche, 2001

Children in society, Basingstoke, Palgrave. 2

Positivist methodologies argue it is possible and desirable to study social behaviour in similar ways to those used by natural scientists to study behaviour in the natural world.

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For positivists, knowledge consists of identifying facts about how and why people behave as they do and, eventually, make connections between different facts to produce theories that explain behaviour.

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The social world is similar to the natural world in terms of how it can be studied.

Human behaviour is, determined by rules developed within social groups: The need to socialise children leads people to develop functional family groups.

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The needs of ‘society’ push people to behave in certain ways. Hence, we experience the social world as a force that exists over-and-above our individual ability to change or influence it.

Like the force of gravity, positivists argue we cannot escape social forces (such as roles or norms).

Hence, much of our behaviour (effect) is determined (caused) by the social structure.

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How much do ‘agency’ do we have?

How much does the structure determine our behaviour? 8

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Social interaction is based upon three principles;Consciousness, - we are aware of ourselves and our relationships with others.Action: People make deliberate choices about how to behaveUnpredictability: because behaviour is not rational and predictable we cannot study it in the way positivists claim.

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The social worlds consists of and is constructed through meanings. We are ‘meaning-making machines’

Society does not exist in an objective form. Instead, it is experienced subjectively. We give meanings to the way we behave on a day-to-day basis When we think of cause

and effect consequences, such as society ‘forcing’ us to think in certain ways or do certain things, we are constructing convenient and fictional explanations.

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• The social world is interpreted by different people in different situations in different ways.

• Therefore, everything in the social world is relative to everything else.

• In order to explain reality, we must get inside the heads of those who make descriptions and explanations of reality

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Theorisation of childhood advocated by;

• Allison James

• Chris Jenks

• Alan Prout

[Source: Morss, 2002]

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Key Points:

Emerged in the 1990’s as a critique of overly

and accounts of childhood.

James, Jenks and Prout propose four different paradigms (views) of childhood:

1. Tribal

2. Social Structural

3. Minority Group

4. Socially Constructed

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4. The Socially Constructed Child

• Distinct from inadequate ‘pre-sociological’ approaches to childhood.

• Distinct from ‘transitional’ approaches (the child as ‘becoming’).

• Increased the esteem associated with ‘childhood studies’, under the banner

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Constructing Child Concern

• Our attitudes towards children are socially constructed.

• Our reality is not ‘out there in the world’ but socially constructed.

• Hence, nothing may be taken for granted, everything may be challenged, and everything is relative.

[Source: Stainton-Rogers, 2001]18

Childhood as ‘original sin’ “Break their will betimes: begin this great work before they can run alone, before they can speak plain, or perhaps speak at all... make him [sic] do as he is bid, if you whip him ten times running to effect it... Break his will now and his soul will live, and he will probably bless you to all eternity”. (Wesley, 1872, quoted in Jobling, 1978, p. 24)

[Source: Stainton-Rogers, 2001:28] 19

Childhood as ‘Innocence’

"Morning Awake ~ Bluebird and Child" by Adelaide Hiebel (1886-1968)

Disney Pictures (1989) “The Little Mermaid”

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1. Children are entitled to a ‘good’ childhood.

2. Children are in need of protection.

1.Children lack self control.

2.Children need to be regulated

[Source: Stainton-Rogers, 2001] 21

How can constructionism be applied in practice?

1. Pluralism: Embracing ‘conflict’, messiness and ambiguity and differing perspectives acknowledging that ‘one size doesn’t fit all’.

2. Participation: All ‘truths’ are merely ‘working truths’. Decision making should be inclusive (with children). Managing conflict can lead to developmental growth.

[Source: Howe, 1994 in Stainton-Rogers, 2001]22

How can constructionism be applied in practice?

3. Power: Sensitivity and awareness as to how power operates in interpersonal relationships (with children) and across society.

4. Performance: Awareness of ones own practice and that of one’s organisation (i.e. police, social working, education)

[Source: Howe, 1994 in Stainton-Rogers, 2001] 23

1. There are different methods of studying the social world.

2. Positivism assumes an external reality is knowable3. Interpretivist approaches hold that reality is

constructed, and this construction shapes who we are.

4. The social construction of childhood emerged in the 1990’s as an interpretivist perspective.

5. The social constructivist perspective enables both students and practitioners to develop a critical stance of meanings, expectations and institutions (such as ‘the state’) associated with ‘childhood.

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