Agency, Identity and Belonging

Abstract

The history of children’s engagement with discourses on morality has at best been partial and at worst non-existent. Questions of children’s competence and capability of age and reason have stripped children of a voice, leaving them powerless within the dominant world of adults. This has consequences. For children to be heard, a foundation needs to be laid that gives them ‘moral’ credibility. This asks immediate questions about the nature of morality and how it sits within the context of the relationship between the individual and society. This chapter will not provide all the answers, but it will look to begin the process of establishing a foundation that recognises the extent to which the individual is part of defining moral meanings. This implies the application of agency and the social essence of morality itself. Significantly, these arguments can be made in the context of children, challenging and defeating theories that limited the extent to which children were seen as decision-makers and meaning-creators within their everyday lives. It is by recognising children as agents, responding and reacting to the world around them, as they shape a sense of identity and belonging, that the case for children’s moral agency and therefore their inclusion in such discourses can be made.