Childhood And Youth: A Sociological Analysis

From a Sociological Perspective childhood and youth is studied in many different perspectives the word youth is defined by many sociologists as a transition between childhood and adulthood as well as adolescence. Sociologists study children and youth based on the way a child is raised, the economic status they stand in, as well as individuals that surround them, institutions that help them develop as they grow and systems they tend to use in adolescent age like the media. This can be seen in four different parts social construction, intersectionality, self/identity and symbolic interaction. As we grow older society and what we see growing up tends to stick with us and we learn from that because we believe that’s the way we are supposed to be

In the article “Understanding Youth and Childhood” the author Virginia Morrow said “childhood is socially constructed in that childhood has different meanings and children have different roles and undertake different activities in different historical periods and in different cultures (Morrow,4)”. This quote shows how children back in the days were socially constructed based on culture and what the beliefs of their families were as well. But not only that it was also based on their economic status there was children from the past that had childhoods where they had to work to help sustain their family they weren’t really looked at as children instead as young adults who had to help with maintaining the household and family. However, those things today have changed drastically children are expected to go to school and learn now a day’s children can enjoy their childhood a lot more, children are required to attend school to be educated and prepare for the future since they no longer have to work at a young age to help out their families. Intersectionality was shown in the “Millennials” reading showed us how the media determines how generations happen and how social network and technology has shaped us the people which lead to the creation of the millennials. In a similar manner, the article “Why

In the article “The Looking Glass Self: How Our Self-image is Shaped by Society” the author Joachim Vogt Isaksen stated that “Cooley´s concept of the looking glass self, states that a person’s self grows out of a person´s social interactions with others. The view of ourselves comes from the contemplation of personal qualities and impressions of how others perceive us (Isaksen,Coley)”. This shows how adolescents build themselves depending on how others interact with them as well as by imagining what others may think of them so looking into themselves in the point of views of others. We start copying from an early age what we see around saying a doing what others do because we tend to think the way elderly people act is the way we are supposed to in certain places. We can understand cumulative inequalities experienced by children as both structural and interactional by the way a child and a mother are treated when it comes to mothers being pregnant and needing to be attended by doctors during and after the pregnancy. Many women lack health insurances due to financial issues which leads them to not have the appropriate assistance needed after the pregnancy specifically leading to maternal mortality. On the “mortality maternal” article