Cultural Perspectives

It’s valuable to take into consideration that these themes are based upon what is commonly referred to as “WEIRD” societies, that is societies which are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. American society certainly falls within this description, but by no means do all societies. Childhood actually has different meanings around the world. Depending on various cultures’ shared patterns of behaviors, interactions and understandings, we see different constructs of childhood emerge. The following articles: “Different Cultures, Different Childhoods” (Montgomery, 2013) from The Open University, and “A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Childhood” (2018) from Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) provide some eye-opening examples of these differences in beliefs about childhood.

Despite these differences, in 1989 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the first human rights treaty which articulates basic universal civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children, known as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Convention:

• Defined childhood as a separate space from adulthood and recognized that what is appropriate for an adult may not be suitable for a child.
• Called on governments to provide material assistance and support to families and to prevent children from being separated from their parents.
• Recognized that children are the holders of their own rights and are therefore not passive recipients of charity but empowered actors in their own development.