What am I?
On childism, adultism, and their bizarre, experiential interchangeability in the semi-problematic household.
In today’s instalment of Grown-ish, I’ll be glossing over the concepts of childism and adultism, what they mean, and how they’re related to one another. I also be divulging my own experience relative to each theoretical term throughout my life so far.
Childism versus adultism
I wouldn’t be surprised if, upon reading these terms, you assumed them both to be entirely made-up. Lots of sociological terms do sound made up, in that they’re an altogether too convenient conjoining of pre/suffixes and word parts that make it way easier to explain yourself in essays. Like, what is educationalisation? Racialisation? Post-industrialisation? Personally, I am currently undergoing a major what-the-fuck-isation. Regardless, both ‘childhism’ and ‘adultism’, despite being seldom-used, are very real theoretical terms in the field of childhood and youth studies. Let’s break it down real quick.
Childism
Childism is, to some, a pretty radical notion, in that it involves viewing children and adults as being “inherently of equal worth” (Warming, 2020, p.356). In a nutshell, childism ignores differences in size, age, experience, development and power in order to advocate for the objective study, recognition and validation of children’s voices and rights. Proponents of childism advocate for the political rights of children, for example, in the form of voting rights - so that politicians with a vested interest in the needs of those with voting power are able to exert power in a more inclusive and democratic way. Obviously, a newborn baby can’t and won’t vote. So, it’s up to those who might reform democracy in favour of childism to decide where little tots stand in all of this - whether they have to come of certain age, or whether their guardians can vote on their behalf until then. An important aspect of childism in a social/scientific context is that the knowledge gleaned from the study of childhood not only informs us about childhood itself, but also allows us to make reasonable and valid inferences about life and society as a whole.
Adultism
The term ‘adultism’ gets used in myriad ways, but is most commonly used to express the issue of coercive control which adults exercise over children. Without diving to deep down the existential rabbit hole, it’s important to understand that adults don’t exist without children - otherwise we’d all just be ‘people’.
Adultism depends on the inferior age group of children to validate claims that adults are superior and reliable and that it is therefore normal, natural, and moral that adults should control supposedly volatile irresponsible children (Alderson, 2020, p.29).
The definition of adultism in and of itself has seriously prejudicial undertones, implying a (sometimes excessive) respect owed inherently to adults. In fact, scholars theorise that adultism is so endemic that there’s no such language to undo it - and that even when we try, the lowered expectation of child participation in matters of significance only serves to perpetuate the whole thing further.
Okay, but seriously. What am I?
If you’ve grown up in a house with any level of internal conflict, you’ll know that childism and adultism can both hit relatively close to home. My childhood, adolescence and early adulthood have all been a steady mix of playing the role of child and adult - throwing more than my fair share of tantrums by day, and mitigating heated arguments by other day. I’m often very confused by the role I’m meant to play in my family, and some days all it takes to ease my mind is to know that some instances call for the kid, and some call for the grown-up - you’ll know which is which when it all goes down. I’m thankful to have parents that let me be a kid, but also value my input in (a few of) the important things that need attention in the family.
And that’s it for today, folks! In this instalment of Grown-ish, we talked about childism and adultism, what they mean, and how they don’t necessarily function as polar opposites when it comes to actual experiences as opposed to solely theorising. We discussed childism as the proponent of children’s voices and rights, and adultism as the superior placement of adults over children and youth. Whether you’re big or little, I’m curious to know what your experiences have been like with reference to your role in your family. Let me know in the comments!
If you’ve enjoyed this read, go ahead and subscribe to join me on this journey of the exploration of childhood and youth studies, now brought to you every Tuesday (if life allows).
Until next time!
Signing off,
Grown-ish.
References
Aldernson, P. (2020). Adultism. In D. T. Cook (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies (pp. 29-30). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Warming, H. (2020). Childism. In D. T. Cook (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies (pp. 355-357). SAGE Publications, Inc.
i am a childist - sham