Young children’s conceptions of morality in a South African context

Interlocked: The ethics of care and the ethics of justice in children's discourses on the parent–child relationship in Chile

“…As Minow points out (1986), human rights instruments are participants in the dispute over what is public and what is private in our societies, in this case how parents relate to their children and the role that corresponds to the state on the matter. As observed by Tronto (1987) in the world of adults and by Martin et al (2021) with children in South Africa, the discourses of children appealed simultaneously to an ethic of care and an ethic of justice.…”

“…Our work has a special interest in studies that stress the powerful concern in children's ethics for the welfare and care of others, including parents and other family members, friends, neighbours and pets (Frankel, 2017;Henze-Pedersen, 2022;Maftei & Holman, 2020;Martin et al, 2021;Siedlikowski et al, 2022;Tammi et al, 2020). This concern is expressed in a context of reciprocity and contingency, in which the children do not figure merely as passive receivers but as daily agents of care, thus going far beyond notions of them as 'caring children' or 'young carers', descriptions intended for somewhat exceptional circumstances (Henderson, 2012;Vergara et al, 2020a;Wihstutz, 2011).…”

“…At the same time, we can see that the results we have obtained that refer to children's emphasis on reciprocal care between parents and children are consistent with the findings of childhood studies in various sociocultural settings. This field has shown that children's ethics refer in particular to the welfare and care of others, especially of parents and other family members (Frankel, 2017;Henze-Pedersen, 2022;Martin et al, 2021;Siedlikowski et al, 2022). This field has also enabled a relational understanding of child agency, developed originally by authors like Mayall (2002), Brannen and Heptinstall (2003) and Brannen et al (2000).…”