What’s on the Childhood as a Construct poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
The argument that childhood is a social category whose boundaries, meaning and duration are set by a particular society rather than by biology alone.
- Aries: medieval art shows children as small adults.
- Schooling and child labour law extended childhood.
- The age of adult responsibility varies by state.
- Childhood is separated, protected and supervised.
- Postman: media erode the boundary again.
- Global childhoods differ sharply by wealth.
- Argued by — Philippe Aries, 1960
- Claim — constructed, not natural
- Compulsory schooling to sixteen creates a decade of dependence that earlier economies…
Educational reference. Aries' reading of medieval sources is heavily criticised by historians; the wider point has survived better.
Questions about the Childhood as a Construct poster
- What’s on the Childhood as a Construct poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. The argument that childhood is a social category whose boundaries, meaning and duration are set by a particular society rather than by biology alone. Aries: medieval art shows children as small adults.; Schooling and child labour law extended childhood.; The age of adult responsibility varies by state.; Childhood is separated, protected and supervised.; Postman: media erode the boundary again.; Global childhoods differ sharply by wealth.; Argued by — Philippe Aries, 1960; Claim — constructed, not natural; Compulsory schooling to sixteen creates a decade of dependence that earlier economies…. Educational reference. Aries' reading of medieval sources is heavily criticised by historians; the wider point has survived better.
- Who is the Childhood as a Construct poster for?
- Childhood as a Construct belongs to the Sociology section rather than to a school year, because law & society is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning family & education can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Childhood as a Construct poster?
- When a feature of modern childhood is treated as simply natural. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Childhood as a Construct belongs on the wall where that law & society work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Childhood as a Construct?
- Credentials & Screening, Cultural Reproduction and Who Does the Housework sit alongside Childhood as a Construct in the Sociology section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Credentials & ScreeningCultural ReproductionWho Does the Housework
- Is the Childhood as a Construct poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Childhood as a Construct downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Sociology section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Childhood as a Construct poster print at?
- Childhood as a Construct is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Childhood as a Construct loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Childhood as a Construct on the same wall.
Browse every Sociology poster, or start from the full catalogue.