Childhood — social construction
Childhood is socially constructed, not natural stage: its length, activities, protections, expectations vary across cultures and history.
Real World
In Victorian England, children as young as five worked in coal mines; the Factory Acts of the 1830s–1840s gradually constructed childhood as a protected, school-based stage — showing it is historically shaped, not natural.
Exam Focus
Use Ariès and Postman as contrasting theorists; always link evidence to the core claim that childhood is socially constructed, not biological.
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