CHILD IN
DIFFERENT SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXTS
Culture and
society may mean different things to different people. For instance, society is
defined as an association with one’s fellows the system of customs and
organization adopted by a body of individuals, the aggregate of people living
together in a more or less ordered community.
“Society
refers to the aggregate of people living together”.
Therefore, the society
means the populations living in an area. Culture refers to “The distinctive
customs, achievements, products, outlook etc. by culturally specific child
rearing practices it means the consistent and similar child rearing practices
adopted, such as feeding, toilet training, sleeping arrangement and discipline.
Children grow up in
specific physical, social, cultural, economic and historical circumstances
(their socio-cultural context), all of which will influence their childhood.
Research has shown that children’s socio-cultural context can have a large
influence on their development. We know that culture influences how children
develop; across different cultures, children develop in quite different ways.
And we know that children who are deprived of contact with their mothers can
often experience difficulties in later childhood because of poor attachment
bonds.
Development involves a
process of learning and improvement and children can only learn when others are
there to support them like parents, teachers and siblings. This does not
conflict with Piaget’s stage theory
but does extend it to explain how some of the environmental experiences that
children receive can allow them to move from one stage to another, in line with
Vygotsky’s socio-cultural approach.
