![]() | The Crucible of Consent: American child rearing and the forging of liberal society Subjects: Children and politics -- United States -- History; Child rearing -- Political aspects -- United States -- History; Liberalism -- United States; Citizenship -- United States; Consensus (Social sciences); Agent (Philosophy); A democratic government requires the consent of its citizens. But how is that consent formed? Why should free people submit to any rule? Pursuing this question to its source for the first time, The Crucible of Consent argues that the explanation is to be found in the nursery and the schoolroom. Only in the receptive and less visible realms of childhood and youth could the necessary synthesis of self-direction and integrative social conduct--so contradictory in logic yet so functional in practice--be established without provoking reservation or resistance. Block James E. : James E. Block is Associate Professor of Political Science at DePaul University. |
![hidden image for function call](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/1x1.png)