Children inRisk Society

University of San Francisco/Ming Zhao

According to WilliamCorsaro，children do not only interpret adults culture，but also create their own culture （40）.However，how children interpret adults culture and create their own culture to a large extent depends on adults，so adults influence the way children perceive the world and themselves.In Corsaros Orb Web Model，both social institutions and peer cultures shape children： Children are born in the center of the web，and as they grow up，they experience different peer cultures and different social institutions （24）.Based on the model，childrens growth is simple，but in truth it is not so，because children live inrisk society.The risk is increased by globalization，or in other words，by more adults control.Adults control is almost everywhere，and once children are born，it begins.Sometimesthe control is not harmful，but sometimes it is.When children are harmed by the control，social institutions or adults will go to protect them.That is，the role of adults is not only to control children，but also to protect them.Unfortunately，adults do not protect children all the time，so some harm for children is inevitable.As a result，both adults control and protectioninfluence children，but control is more common than protection.In addition，because adults influence children primarily on how they perceive the world and themselves，we can say that adults alsocontribute to children culture.Eventually，children will become adults.They will continue the process of controlling and protecting their children.

The Model of Children inRisk Society

Influenced peer culture

Family of origin/ where children are born

Institutions/ Adults protection

Adults control

Adults culture

First，adults control and protect children at the same time.Adults are never bored with controlling children to do something based on their own worldviews.Teenage pregnancy is a good example.Adultsforce teenage girlsto abort pregnancies，or do not allow them to do so at all.They believe their controlcan benefit children，and they regard the control as a way to protect children.However，what adults do does not save children from misery； instead，it brings more.In Allison Crewss article，she tells two stories about teenage pregnancy.When the author was twelve，she watched the whole process of a very young girl with her mom entering and leaving the clinic doors.A crowd of pro-life people surrounded her，and shouted at her.Even after her procedure—“her face was pale and her eyes downcast，”and people still blamed her （146）.Three years later，the author was pregnant，and she decided to bear a child.However，even if she did not abort，she could not escape from adultscontrol and protection.She was labeled as an “irresponsible teenager” and a “hopeless mother，” and was told that she should abort before it was too late （Crews）.When children makechoices，adults often interfere.Regardless of to control or to protect，childrens rights.As Crews argues，“whatever our reproductive choices，nobody can ever deny us our right to them” （149）.That is，children have the right to choose their own lives，and their rights should beendowed.

Second，adults influence childrens culturethrough controlling and protecting them.Adults control and protect children，so their control and protection will definitely influence them，and then influence on how they create their own culture and how their culture will finally be.Children are continually searching for sharing and control，and there is nothing better than the Internet to meet their needs （Montgomery，125），becausethe Internetgives children chances to express themselves and to share their ideas with their peers，and children can control what they will share，giving them a sense of independence.However，when they are immersed in their own joyful world，adults participate in.Marketers become part of the communication structure of children （125）.One of their marketing methods is “the Web-facilitated version of word-of-mouth promotion” that advertising messages spread from one friend to another to more （120，121）.Adult marketers exploit childrens connection to promote their products，and it is effective，because children cannot protect themselves fromadults control.Once they accept，their culture is influenced.They begin to talk more about products and brands，and theirbehaviorsbegin to expand more around it，such as collectively purchasing online and pursuing a new product.

In addition to childrens culture being influenced by adultscontrol，their culture is also shaped by adultsprotection.Since marketers have great power to dominate childrens material demand and consumption，children are placed to a passive and dangerous position.This risk for children has gradually aroused societys attention，and then manyInternet regulations for children were introduced.For example，Congress passed the Children Online Privacy Protection Act in 2000，whichaimstoprotect children under 13 from being threatened by marketersdomination.Although social regulations cannot reduce all Internet risks for children，at least，they are the efforts of adults on protecting children，and these efforts will more or less limit marketers further harmful actions.

Third，adults do not always protect children.Adults control does not often harm children，so children do not often need to be protected，but once they need it，adults should be there for them.However，whatadults should dois not equal to that they will do.According toGeeranjaliGangoli and Melanie McCarryschild marriage study，children in south Asian communities of northeast England do not receive any social protection，either law or organizational support，to help them against theundesired marriage.Although “child marriage in the UK is viewed as a forced marriage issue” （420），there is no law to illustrate what kind of child marriage is forced marriage.Definition of forced marriage does not address the issue of age and consent clearly； specifically，it does not declare whether marriage consent from parents should or could replace the consent from children who are under 18 （420）.Also，legal definition of domestic violence only applies to adults who are over 18，butchild marriage is usually within the context of the domestic violence （421）.

Moreover，none of the organizations or agencies provides services for children or young people to escape from forced marriage （Gangoli&McCarry422）.This increases childrens vulnerability because they probably lack thecourage to escape from forced marriageand the courage to encounter the difficulties after escape.Children haverights to be protected from danger and bitterness，but in these communities，they have no way to stop the harm from the parent control.Especially，the harm targets on girls，because girls are subject to more control of sexual freedom （426），although it is against the societys value thatgirls need to be protected from society while boys need to protect the society.

Finally，children willrepeat the whole controlling and protecting process toward their children.When children grow up，the childrens culture will become adults culture，and theywill continue tocontrol and/ or protect their children.In Gangoli and McCarrys study，most children who experienced the undesired marriage describe it asarranged rather thanforced.This implies that although child marriage is individually intolerable，it is culturally normative.Since forcing children into marriage is south Asian communities culture that is held deeply by adults，thismust influence how children view child marriage.If childrenaccept it and consider it as normative，it suggests thatthey have followed the children culture of their communities.If they have followed the children culture，they will probablyfollow the adults culture of their communities in the future that alsoforcestheir children into marriage.

In conclusion，my model，Children inRisk Society，shows thatadults control and protect children at the same time.The interaction of the control and protection influence childrens culture，but control influences children more because sometimes protection does not exist.When children participate in adults world，they will act as their parents tocontrol and protect their children as well.In addition，the reason why children live in risk societyis that，as the three texts suggest，adults control is almost everywhere，andboth adults control and protection can restrict childrens rights.Therefore，to protect childrens rights，adultsshouldrealize their so-called consideration for children from the perspectives on control and protection.