Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I How to Understand Childhoods in the Postcolonial Context
- Part II Children Under Colonial and Postcolonial Rule
- Part III Children’s Rights and the Decolonization of Childhoods
- Epilogue: Childhoods and Children’s Rights Beyond Postcolonial Paternalism
- References
- Index
8 - Beyond Paternalism: Plea for the de-Paternalization of Children’s Protection and Participation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 March 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I How to Understand Childhoods in the Postcolonial Context
- Part II Children Under Colonial and Postcolonial Rule
- Part III Children’s Rights and the Decolonization of Childhoods
- Epilogue: Childhoods and Children’s Rights Beyond Postcolonial Paternalism
- References
- Index
Summary
For some, paternalism can be an attitude of arrogance and highmindedness, best detected by recipients whose dignity has been injured. For others paternalism exists when outsiders presume that they know what is best for others. And others want to reserve paternalism for when some form of coercion is used to impose one's views on another on the grounds that it is in her best interests. Paternalism, just like care and power, comes in many different forms. (Michael N. Barnett, Paternalism beyond Borders, 2017: 5)
Introduction
When we want to characterize the quasi-colonial relationship between adults and children, the concept of paternalism is sometimes used. The term is used in different ways and I intend not only to present it, but also to determine to what extent it is really apt to analyse, qualify and design the relationships between adults and children in different social and cultural contexts. To this end, I will place particular emphasis on issues of child protection and child participation.
At first, I will explain the concept of paternalism and I will question the arguments with which the so-called pedagogical paternalism or soft paternalism is usually justified. In a second step, I will analyse to what extent the rights of children and certain variants of paternalism can be compatible with each other or can contradict themselves. Then I will explain in two steps and with regard to several examples of child protection and participation how they are marked by paternalist thought patterns and how these patterns can be overcome. Finally, I will present some suggestions on how to deal with children to overcome paternalism.
How to understand paternalism
The concept of paternalism is discussed primarily in moral and legal philosophy, but has also entered into various disciplines dealing with practical questions about relationships between people and their social positioning in society. With regard to children, the question of paternalism now plays an important role, for instance, in pedagogy, childcare and welfare, as well as in social science and ethical and legal contributions to the understanding of children's rights. The debate often distinguishes between different forms of paternalism, for example, between strong and weak, hard and soft, direct and indirect, active and passive, symmetrical and asymmetrical paternalism, as well as between paternalism and anti-paternalism.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Decolonizing ChildhoodsFrom Exclusion to Dignity, pp. 161 - 190Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2020