{"title":"Charting the Way to a World Fit for Children","authors":"B. Woodhouse","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9780814794845.003.0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814794845.003.0013","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter thirteen focuses on small world strategies for building a new macrosystem. It proposes specific ways in which each individual can engage in positive action beginning at the local levels of family, community, municipality and region. After reviewing some big ideas that shaped this grassroots approach, including vulnerability theory, developmental equality theory, and environmental principles of sustainability and the circular economy, the author highlights six specific forms of action and illustrates them with real world examples: (1) promoting a culture of respect for children’s voices; (2) building support for a children’s rights approach; (3) building child-friendly cities, towns and communities; (4) building support for combatting climate change; (5) working to repopulate villages and farming communities one family at a time; and (6) mobilizing our individual civil rights to vote, march and litigate for change.","PeriodicalId":397042,"journal":{"name":"The Ecology of Childhood","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130751945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Children of the Great American Recession","authors":"B. Woodhouse","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9780814794845.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814794845.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter seven examines the effects of the Great Recession on U.S. children. It opens with a discussion of various methods for measuring national well-being. Each measure, from Gross Domestic Product and the Global Competitiveness Index to the Human Development Index, the GINI Index of inequality, reflects different priorities. In measuring changes in child well-being, poverty is a key factor. The author reviews leading methods for measuring child poverty, including absolute versus relative benchmarks, market child poverty versus poverty after government benefits, the poverty gap between children and other groups, and boundaries between poverty and extreme poverty. In measuring changes in child well-being, in addition to poverty, researchers study food insecurity, housing instability, health-care gaps, and child maltreatment. In each category, the author uses a comparative lens to explore the long term effects of recession and the national response in the U.S. and Europe. At the macro level, national “politics”—defined as the authoritative allocation of values and distribution of rewards in wealth, power, and status—shaped the government response. The author documents the U.S. government’s failure to address rising levels of child poverty, malnutrition, homelessness, infant and maternal mortality, and child maltreatment associated with the recession.","PeriodicalId":397042,"journal":{"name":"The Ecology of Childhood","volume":"166 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134207948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Family-Supportive Policies in the Decision to Have Children","authors":"B. Woodhouse","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9780814794845.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814794845.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter six explores the relationship between declining birth rates and family supportive policies. Research on the social construction of parenthood shows that Italians continue to desire children and see parenthood as an important and fulfilling role. Disincentives to childbearing include economic insecurity, escalating costs of childrearing, and insufficient funding of family supportive policies. Rather than avoiding parental responsibility, fathers are increasingly involved in childrearing and grandparents and extended family provide significant caregiving support. The author’s field observations in the village of Scanno confirm the positive involvement of fathers, extended family, and the community in childrearing. The principle of duty on the part of government to protect and support families is embedded in the Italian Constitution, so there is broad support for policies such as universal healthcare, paid parenting leave, subsidized day care and early childhood education, and cash subsidies for families raising children. In the United States, traditions favouring individualism and assigning responsibility for childrearing to the private family have blocked the development of universal, family-supportive policies. Despite its wealth, the U.S. lags far behind peer nations in providing public support during early childhood, exacerbating inequalities between rich and poor children.","PeriodicalId":397042,"journal":{"name":"The Ecology of Childhood","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132686748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}