The Critical Theory of Jurgen Habermas

This article sets the scene for the other papers in this Special Issue on children's and young people's participation, by outlining the nature of the ESRC Seminar Series from which all are derived and by developing the main themes discussed at the seminars. The focus of this Issue is participation by children and young people as this relates to differing notions of social exclusion and inclusion. This article critically examines participation in the contexts of policy, practice, research and theory. In many respects the environments in each of these domains is supportive of increased participation, yet there is also much evidence of limited impact by recent participative measures and of disillusionment by many young people who have been engaged in consultation and decision-making. A way forward is suggested, which entails collaboration among all the key stakeholders including children and young people, connects participatory and social inclusion aims and mechanisms, and is committed to achieving tangible outcomes based on the wishes of children and young people.

Moving the Participation Agenda Forward

Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism

The Reality of the Mass Media

This paper will critically examine the assumptions structuring policy discourses of support and inclusion, and will link them to wider political and theoretical debates Reflecting an increasing professionalization of childrearing practices, recent policy documents have emphasized the need for all parents to have access to support, advice and guidance Implicit in this approach is the notion that ‘socially excluded’ parents in particular are isolated from the information and assistance that enables effective parenting Meanwhile, the concepts of poverty and inequality are becoming increasingly detached from government definitions of social exclusion Policies addressing the ‘condition’ of exclusion commonly emphasize a perceived disconnection from mainstream values and aspirations, as opposed to marginalization from material resources In the case of family policy, interventions framed within the discourse of ‘parenting support’ stress the importance of helping parents to do the best they can for their ch

Meeting parents’ needs? Discourses of ‘support’ and ‘inclusion’ in family policy:

The article critically examines the assumption implicit in the research on social solidarity and popular attitudes that institutional solidarity equates with mutual care in society Following a review of a selection of recent empirical research on social solidarity and popular attitudes to welfare it is concluded that the evidence points to general support for welfare based on self-interest and the principle of mutual insurance rather than social altruism The analysis proceeds by arguing that social and economic changes which have resulted in social polarisation have weakened ‘functional democracy’ (the reciprocal dependency of one social group or class on another) leading to possible ‘decivilising tendencies’ and a decline in mutual empathy The article argues that post-emotionalism may be the result of these processes: the breakdown in mutual knowledge across the class divide; the intellectualisation of feelings; interaction based on false ‘niceness’; the manipulation of emotions The paper concludes by suggesting that post-emotional attitudes are the by-product of government social steering towards amoral familism in social policy through the provision of a ‘vocabulary of motives’ which are negative to state welfare

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0047279403007050

Social Solidarity, Welfare and Post-Emotionalism

The welfare state and social closure: social division and the 'underclass'

‘Regulating the Poor’: Observations on the ‘Structural Coupling’ of Welfare, Criminal Justice and the Voluntary Sector in a ‘Big Society’: ‘Regulating the Poor’: Observations on the‘Structural Coupling’of Welfare, Criminal Justice and the Voluntary Sector in a‘Big Society’

The article draws a distinction between family policy and moral regu lation and argues that there has been increasing emphasis upon the latter in recent public debate about family life. The analysis suggests that British social policy compares unfavourably with other European countries because it lacks an explicit family policy. The Conservative government's family strategy has revealed confusions, most noticeably in the divergence between the Green Paper Looking to the Future which advocates a move to 'no fault' divorces and the broader politi cal project of demonising lone parenthood. The article concludes by examining some evidence that undermines the view which suggests that family structures have a unique explanatory power in accounting for a rise in incivility and criminality in modern society.

Family policy or moral regulation

The attempt to introduce the principle of withholding housing benefit from people deemed to be antisocial, together with recent antisocial behaviour legislation, marks a subtle change in the role o...

John J. Rodger

Papers

Social Solidarity, Welfare and Post-Emotionalism

The welfare state and social closure: social division and the 'underclass'

‘Regulating the Poor’: Observations on the ‘Structural Coupling’ of Welfare, Criminal Justice and the Voluntary Sector in a ‘Big Society’: ‘Regulating the Poor’: Observations on the‘Structural Coupling’of Welfare, Criminal Justice and the Voluntary Sector in a‘Big Society’

Family policy or moral regulation

Antisocial families and withholding welfare support