Childhood Ethics: An ontological advancement for childhood studies

Abstract

We describe an ontological approach to childhood studies that we refer to as Childhood Ethics. This involves an interdisciplinary hermeneutic orientation towards examining the morally meaningful dimensions of matters that affect young people. We draw on our empirical research with young people from 3‐ to 17‐years old, examining their experiences in a diversity of contexts and geographical settings. Our investigations challenge dominant binary conceptions of young people along lines of decisional in/capacity and im/maturity. We argue for a view of children as active agents with meaningful relational engagements and participation interests and capacities and outline corresponding implications for research and practice.

Injustices faced by children during the COVID-19 pandemic and crucial next steps

“…Overall, young people are seen as capable enough to deal with many of the issues they have faced, without sufficient support, but too incapable to contribute to policy discussions, pushing their perspectives to the periphery. Advances in childhood ethics predict these outcomes, challenging the ways young people are often viewed as moral objects by calling for opportunities for young people to participate at a policy level and be repositioned to active moral agents (Carnevale et al 2020).…”

An Ethnographic Study of the Moral Experiences of Children with Cancer in New Delhi, India

“…It is unclear how much of this Western-dominated evidence is transferable to an Indian context, given how little is known about the latter. The term “capability” refers to children’s abilities to: (a) understand information regarding their health care and how various treatment options would affect them, and (b) form preferences for treatment options that best align with their interests ( Carnevale et al, 2020 ).…”

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children: An ethical analysis with a global-child lens

“…However, defining a young person’s best interests is a complex, contested task. The conceptualization of best interests employed here draws from advances in childhood ethics, whereby young people are seen as moral agents with voice and capacities (Carnevale et al, 2020). Agency, under this view, aims to incorporate the engrained relationality of young people’s lives and the environments that young people can be embedded in, as these factor orient how young people attribute meaning (Carnevale et al, 2020).…”

“…The conceptualization of best interests employed here draws from advances in childhood ethics, whereby young people are seen as moral agents with voice and capacities (Carnevale et al, 2020). Agency, under this view, aims to incorporate the engrained relationality of young people’s lives and the environments that young people can be embedded in, as these factor orient how young people attribute meaning (Carnevale et al, 2020). Therefore, a focus on the best interests of a young person that aligns with these advances in childhood ethics entails authentically listening to the perspectives, experiences and interests of all young people, while also being attentive to the individuals and communities that are involved in their lives.…”

“…capabilities) taken seriously. Based on the advances in childhood and childhood ethics that are foundational to our work (Carnevale et al, 2020), we believe that this tendency to overlook the heterogeneity of childhood and the wide variety of capabilities that young people have – ranging from having preferences without being able to effectively express those preferences to having similar rational processes as adults–is a harmful position that has been driven by dominant societal paradigms and remains ignorant of evidence indicating that young people can have differing degrees of agential capacities (Bluebond-Langner, 1980; Dedding et al, 2015; Montreuil and Carnevale, 2016; Mortlock, 1987). As others have said, ‘when thinking about children, we should not be talking about static capabilities, but dynamic capabilities captured by the notion of evolving capabilities’ (Ballet et al, 2011: 34).…”