Socio-economic status of the children of sex-workers

The distribution of CSW by socio-economic characteristics include age, sex, religion, marital status, number of family members, visiting times of mother to children, family income (monthly), educational background of mother and friends or peers. Moreover access of CSW in formal education varies by socio economic status. In total, 200 CSW Regarding the participants’ age, about 19.5 percent of the respondents belonged to the age group of below 8 years. Around 49.5 percent of the respondents was found in the age group 9-12 years, where as, 31% respondents was found above 16 years old. The average age of the respondents was (11.25 ) years with a standard deviation of (3.20 ).

Triangulation of The Children of Sex-Workers in Bangladesh

Intercultural researchers usually use two types of investigation processes. First is quantitative research, which employs numerical indicators to ascertain the relative size of a particular communication phenomenon. The second type of investigation process is qualitative research, which employs symbols and words to indicate the presence or absence of phenomena or categorize them into different types. But professional and academic researchers tend to use triangulation techniques in their research investigations. Triangulation is a kind of `belt and braces`or insurance policy approach that’s used to try to counter the weakness that exist in different methods of data collection and analysis (Walsh, M.2001).

Erving Goffman The Children of Sex-Workers in Bangladesh

Erving Goffman was one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable practitioners of social science, a sociologist universally acknowledged for his singular talent. Of course, Goffman was not only concerned with developing a general sociology of interaction and experience. Status symbols identify the social capacity to be imputed to a person in ‘ordinary communication’ and thus how others should treat that person. Unlike collective symbols, which draw persons together irrespective of their differences into a ‘single moral community’, status symbols serve to ‘visibly divide the social world into categories of persons … helping to maintain solidarity within a category and hostility between different categories’ (1951: 294). Goffman is fascinated by the possibility that persons may use status symbols falsely to signify a status they do not actually possess. His writing is concerned with the pressures that play upon behaviour as a result of the fact that a symbol of status is not always a very good test of status’. Only then does Goffman restrict his attention to one sub-set of status symbols: class status symbols.

Howard Becker’s Developmental Career Model , The Children of Sex-Workers in Bangladesh

Howard Becker’s developmental career model is a social-process approach. Becker argues that deviance exists in the eye of the beholder, much like beauty. He stresses that no act is intrinsically deviant, but must be defined as such. Becker’s notion of a developmental process is that it precedes the attainment of a deviant identity or career. He uses the process of becoming a marijuana user as an unfolding sequence of steps that lead one to a commitment and participation in a deviant career. He argues that such an identity occurs over time, having both a historical and longitudinal course that involves some subtle changes in the person’s attitude and perspective, as well as their behavior, he argues. “The circumstances that determine movement along a particular path includes properties of both the person and of the situation,” he states. Becker noted that the process of segregation creates "outsiders", who are outcast from society, and then begin to associate with other individuals who have also been cast out.

Frank Tannenbaum -The Children of Sex-Workers in Bangladesh

“The community cannot deal with people whom it cannot define.... The young delinquent becomes bad because he is defined as bad and because he is not believed if he is good.”
--- Frank Tannenbaum

Labeling theory assumes that social control leads to deviance. He focuses on the (linguistic) tendency of majorities to negatively label minorities or those who are seen as deviant from norms. Deviance (and deviants) are seen as labels to describe behaviour and individuals by particular authority figures in society (e.g. police). Social response in the form of social control can lead to delinquent behavior. Labeling a child as a delinquent has negative connotations in itself (it has second and third order effects). The label of a delinquent may result in the child becoming a delinquent (Tannenbaum, F., 1938).

Theoretical framework of The Children of Sex-Workers in Bangladesh

Labeling theory is closely related to social-construction and symbolic-interaction analysis (Macionis, John J.,et al, 2011). Labeling theory was developed by sociologists during the 1960s. Howard Saul Becker's book Outsiders was extremely influential in the development of this theory and its rise to popularity. Labeling theory holds that deviance is not inherent to an act, but instead focuses on the tendency of majorities to negatively label minorities or those seen as deviant from standard cultural norms. (Labeling theory: Social constructionism, Social stigma, Deinstitutionalization, George Herbert Mead, Howard S. Becker, Labeling).

Overview of NGOs in Bangladesh working for Children of Sex-workers

One of the most horrendous violations of child rights is sexual exploitation. While several categories of children are in the grip of physical and social disadvantages, the children of commercial sex workers fall easy prey to those who surround them and abuse them. They are not only marginalized but receive scant attention of society (Anandraj, Hannah. 1999).

Overview on newspaper articles of Children of Sex-workers in Bangladesh

More than 20,000 children are born and live in the 18 registered red-light areas of Bangladesh. Boys tend to become pimps once they grow up and girls continue in their mothers’ profession. Most of these girls enter the profession before the age of 12 (Guardian, 5March, 2010).