SOC 322: Midterm Exam Solution: Examining Childhood in Society

This document presents a solution to a midterm exam for SOC 322, focusing on the sociological study of childhood. The exam explores the concept of childhood as a social construct, examining how different societies perceive and define it. It delves into the interplay of biological and cultural factors in childhood socialization, and it analyzes the rise of custodial grandparents and the challenges they face. The solution also discusses the influence of family, peers, and media on the development of gender roles, and it addresses the experiences of immigrant children. Furthermore, it examines how socioeconomic changes impact childhood experiences compared to previous eras, and compares and contrasts means-based and age-based social programs. The solution provides comprehensive answers to the exam questions, offering insights into various aspects of childhood within a sociological framework.

Running head: MIDTERM EXAM 1
Midterm Exam
Name
Institution

SOC 322: Midterm Exam
1. The social construction of childhood is the notion that childhood remains constructed
or seen differently by diverse societies. This concept of childhood is intensely intertwined with
other elements in society. Example of this social constructs are children as evil, kids as innocent
and kids as good. Most sociologists indeed see childhood as something defined and created by
society. They claim that what individuals mean by childhood as well as the status of kids in
society is not static but differs between different places, times and cultures.
2 Socialization often occurs when a kid learns the values, actions and attitudes
appropriate to people as a members of a specific group within the society. Culture refers to the
collection of assumptions, values and beliefs that individuals from a particular cultural
background share. On the other hand socialization refers to the process of transmitting these
assumptions, values and beliefs from one generation of individuals to the next. This shows that
socialization strongly influence the beliefs, actions and behavior of children. It is true that
biological factors for example hormone levels, genetic influences, and brain chemistry affects the
behavior of an individual. Therefore, all these indicate that childhood socialization remains based
both culturally and biologically.
5. Custodial grandparents indeed remain represented in all races. Nevertheless,
grandparents in racial as well as ethnic minority groups remain many in the population of
caregivers. There are many factors that may cause the grandparents to look after their
grandchildren. Factors such as child and neglect, military deployment, unstable home life,
addiction as well as incarceration rate, as well as economic factors have led to an increase in the
number of custodial grandparents. The increase rate of incarceration for both men and women
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has indeed left most of the children in the United States in the hands of their grandparents as
their main caregivers.
Some of the issues that the grandparents may face include inadequate housing for
children, barriers to enrolling kids in school, health challenges, legal issues, as well as financial
supports.
The family structure can be positive for both the children and the grandparents when they
are encouraged to establish practical strategies mainly for managing the current relationship
dynamics between themselves as well as their adult child. They should be encouraged to create
proactive setting boundaries to help in facilitating the relationship between custodial
grandparents as well as an adult child.
7. As children move through childhood and into adulthood, they remain exposed to
numerous factors that influence their behaviors and attitudes about gender roles. These behaviors
and attitudes are normally learned first within the family and are then strengthened by the kid's
peers, school experience, as well as television viewing. Most of the parents encourage their kids
to take part in the gender-stereotypical play, for example, boys playing with trucks and girls
playing with dolls. Therefore, the strongest influence on the development of gender role appears
to happen within the family because most of the parents pass their own beliefs regarding gender
to their children. Children are frequently dressed in gender-specific clothing as well as given
gender-specific toys by their parents from birth. All these states how family greatly influences
the gender role of kids from birth to adulthood.
8. Immigrants are stigmatized as the rapist, murderers, and drug traffickers, and most of
them live in fear of deportation. Studies indicate that anxiety, panic disorder, and depression are
common among most immigrants, and most schools in the United States report that the health
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challenges mentioned above impact undocumented children too. Therefore, it is true that children
of some immigrant groups, for example, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Mexicans may be at risk of
getting in trouble with police officers and dropping out of school. They are also subjected to
discrimination.
Immigrant children are indeed likely to learn another language at a faster rate compared
to their parents. This is because their school attendance offers them with direct exposure to the
culture and language of the host nation. After learning the language of the host nation they take
the role in their families mainly as designated interpreters and translators.
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