The principle of child autonomy: A rationale for the normative agenda of childhood studies

Abstract

The normative aim of childhood studies is to show that children are and should be recognized as active shapers of their lifeworlds. In this article, we discuss which concept can best be used to accomplish this. Our thesis is that the agency concept ubiquitous in childhood studies only inadequately advances the field’s normative agenda. Mostly containing some hidden normativity, its meaning remains primarily descriptive. Indeed, children always have some kind of agency, regardless of the conditions they live in. They may exercise agency while still being manipulated or otherwise rendered incapable of acting as autonomous human beings. Against this backdrop, we first delineate the deficiencies of the notion of child agency and try to show why it should be replaced by that of autonomy in order to preserve and make explicit its hidden normative impetus. Second, we seek to clarify which understanding of autonomy is able to fulfill our aspirations. We oppose individualistic notions of autonomy and, by the same token, draw on criticism of the insufficient attention often paid to structural social factors. Eventually, we aim to develop a social concept of child autonomy that takes into account the relationality of human existence and replaces the asymmetrical relationship between children and adults with an equal appreciation of differences.

Children’s Participation, Progressive Autonomy, and Agency for Inclusive Education in Schools

“…Learner-partner gradually increased participation following their progressive autonomy. Tisdall, 2019) in the asymmetrical power relations that exist within the intergenerational order (Liebel, 2018;Mühlbacher & Sutterlüty, 2019).…”

Doing childhood, doing gender, but not doing sports: Unorganized girls’ reflections on leisure time from a relational perspective

“…Autonomy should not then be equated with independence. Autonomous children are to the contrary dependent on many other persons, and so is every individual (Mühlbacher and Sutterlüty, 2019). The relational conception of autonomy emphasizes individual persons’ development in social connections and relationships with others.…”

“…Research results and the label “outsiders” signals concerns that there might be something in this group’s social background that contributes to their lower participation rate and that might affect their possibilities to have a meaningful leisure time and perhaps even run future health risks due to less physical activity and fewer social relations. In this article we will elaborate on these worries from the perspective of childhood studies that has raised interest in children as competent social actors with an autonomy of their own (James and Prout, 2015; Mühlbacher and Sutterlüty, 2019). The goal in childhood studies to analyze children’s lives from their own standpoint is an attempt to question the long tradition of treating children as either powerless victims of their circumstances or as ill willing by nature (Warming et al, 2019).…”

Advancing children’s geographies through ‘grey areas’ of age and childhood

“…The subfield draws increased attention towards how children’s lifeworld experiences differ from adults in which children themselves have increased autonomy in creating and managing their own embodied lived experiences (Yarwood & Tyrrell, 2012, p. 123). Likewise, expansions in the subfield constantly emphasize critical awareness towards the decolonizing of Children’s Geographies from more inclusion of diverse experiences of global indigenous childhoods concerning the social variable of age (de Castro, 2020; Mühlbacher & Sutterlüty, 2019). However, a critical engagement with grey areas of age is missing so far/is still in its infancy.…”