Abstract
Inspired by social interactionism (Weber 1921; Mead 1934) and the structuration theory (Giddens 1984), an emergent theory addresses social actions and discourses in terms of transactional horizons (Stoecklin 2021a, 2021b). New understandings of agency derived from an analytical framework called the “actor’s system” (Stoecklin 2013), stemming from long-term research with children in street situations (Lucchini and Stoecklin 2020). This framework was then applied in small-scale studies in Switzerland (Stoecklin et al. 2017; Stoecklin 2021b) and in a review of Greta Thunberg’s speeches (Stoecklin 2021a). The comparisons show that children’s participation, well-being, and attitudes towards sustainable development share a common feature that is the need for individual flourishing. This commonality in children’s experiences is grasped here with the notion “expansion of the self”. This provides a new understanding of the replicated claims for participation, well-being and sustainability: the need to flourish is bound to the most common system, namely the perceptual system. The five senses (touch, smell, hearing, sight, taste) are the human common basis for discursive collocations. An interdisciplinary dialogue is needed to understand actions as forms of being and connectors between perceptual and reflective consciousness.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andresen, S., Fegter, S., Hurrelmann, L., and U. Schneekloth. 2017. Well-being, Poverty and Justice from a Child’s Perspective. 3rd World Vision Children Study. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer.
Betz, T., and S. Andresen. 2014. Child Well-being. Potenzial und Grenzen eines Konzepts. Einführung in den Thementeil. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik 60(4): 499–504.
Blumer, H. 1969. Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Englewoods Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Ceplak, M. M. 2006. Values of young people in Slovenia: The search for personal security. Young 14(4): 291–308.
Charmaz, K. 2006. Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. London: Sage.
Dewey, J. 1938. Logic. The Theory of Inquiry. New-York: Henry Holt and Company.
Fattore, T., Fegter, S., and C. Hunner-Kreisel. 2018. Children’s Understandings of Well-Being in Global and Local Contexts: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations for a Multinational Qualitative Study. Child Indicators Research. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-018-9594-8.
Fisher, S. R. 2016. Life trajectories of youth committing to climate activism. Environmental Education Research 22(2): 229–247.
Foucault, M. 1970. The Order of Things: An Archeology of the Human Sciences. New-York: Pantheon Books.
Giddens, A. 1984. The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Green, M. 2017. ‘If there’s no sustainability our future will get wrecked’: Exploring children’s perspectives of sustainability. Childhood 24(2): 151–167.
Han, H., and S. W. Ahn. 2020. Youth Mobilization to Stop Global Climate Change: Narratives and Impact. Sustainability, 12(10): 4127. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104127.
Holmberg, A., and A. Alvinius. 2019. Children’s protest in relation to the climate emergency: A qualitative study on a new form of resistance promoting political and social change. Childhood 27(1): 78–92. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568219879970.
Lucchini, R. 1996. Sociologie de la survie. L’enfant dans la rue. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Lucchini, R., and D. Stoecklin. 2020. Children in Street Situations. A Concept in Search of an Object. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research 21. Cham: Springer. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19040-8.
Mead, G. H. 1934. Mind, Self and Society. University of Chicago Press.
Miller, D. L. 1982. The Individual and the Social Self. Unpublished Work of George Herbert Mead. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Nizet, J. 2007. La sociologie de Anthony Giddens. Paris: La Découverte.
O'brien, K., Selboe, E., and B. M. Hayward. 2018. Exploring youth activism on climate change. Ecology and Society 23(3): 42. doi: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10287-230342.
Roucous, N. 2006. Loisirs de l’enfant et représentation sociale de l’enfant acteur. In Eléments pour une sociologie de l’enfance, ed. R. Sirota, 235–243. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.
Sander, D. 2013. Models of emotion. The affective neuroscience approach. In The Cambridge handbook of human affective neuroscience. eds. J. Armony and P. Vuilleumier, 5–54. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511843716.003.
Sen, A. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Strandbu, A., and O. Krange. 2003. Youth and the environmental movement – Symbolic inclusions and exclusions. The Sociological Review 51(2): 177–198.
Strauss, A., and J. Corbin. 1990. Basics of qualitative research. Grounded theory, procedures and techniques. London: Sage.
Stoecklin, D. 2013. Theories of action in the field of child participation. In search of explicit frameworks. Childhood 20(4): 443–457.
Stoecklin, D. 2018. Institutionalisation of Children’s Rights: Transformability and Situated Agency. The International Journal of Children’s Rights 26(3): 548–587. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718182-02603004.
Stoecklin, D. 2021a. The Transactional Horizons of Greta Thunberg. Societies 11(2): 36. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11020036.
Stoecklin, D. 2021b. A new theoretical framework for the study of children’s experiences of well-being. In Understanding Children’s Concepts of Well-being – Challenges in International Comparative Qualitative Research, eds. C. Hunner-Kreisel, S. Fegter and T. Fattore, 69–93. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer.
Stoecklin, D., and T. Fattore. 2017. Children’s multidimensional agency: insights into the structuration of choice. Childhood 25(1): 47–62. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568217743557.
Stoecklin, D., Bonvin J. M., and A. Sedooka. 2017. Sociologie de l’enfant acteur. Capabilité participative dans les loisirs organisés. Université de Genève. https://www.unige.ch/cide/files/1315/1367/9262/RAPPORT_FINAL.pdf. Accessed: 21 May 2021.
Stoecklin, D., and J. M. Bonvin. 2014a. The Capability Approach and Children’s Rights. In Agency and Participation in Childhood and Youth. International Applications of the Capability Approach in Schools and Beyond, eds. C.S. Hart, M. Biggeri and B. Babic, 63–82. London, New Dehli, New York, Sidney: Bloomsbury.
Stoecklin, D., and J. M. Bonvin, eds. 2014b. Children’s Rights and the Capability Approach. Challenges and Prospects. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research 8. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer.
Thomas, N., and D. Stoecklin. 2018. Recognition and Capability: A New Way to Understand How Children Can Achieve Their Rights? In Theorising Childhood. Citizenship, Rights, and Participation, eds. C. Baraldi and T. Cockburn, 73–94. Palgrave McMillan, Studies in Childhood and Youth. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72673-1_4.
Thunberg, G. 2019. No One is Too Small to Make a Difference (new expanded edition). London: Penguin Books.
UNGA (1987). United Nations General Assembly. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-02.htm#I. Accessed: 19 May 2021.
UNCRC (1989). United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx. Accessed: 19 May 2021.
Walker, C. 2020. Uneven solidarity: the school strikes for climate in global and intergenerational perspective. Sustainable Earth 3(5). doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s42055-020-00024-3.
Wahlström, M., Kocyba, P., Sommer, M., and M. De Vydt. 2019. Protest for a future: Composition, mobilization and motives of participants in Fridays For Future climate protests on 15 march, 2019 in 13 European cities. https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/6536/1/Protest%20for%20a%20future_GCS%2015.03.19%20Descriptive%20Report-2.pdf. Accessed: 21 May 2021.
Weber, M. 1968. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology (translation from Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, published unfinished and posthumously in 1921). New York: Bedminster Press.
Weisner, T. 2014. Culture, context, and child well-being. In Handbook of Child Well-Being, eds. A. Ben-Arieh, F. Casas, I. Frones and J. E. Korbin, 87–103. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer.
Yearley, S. 2005. The “end” or the “humanization” of nature? Organization & Environment 18(2): 198–201.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Der/die Autor(en), exklusiv lizenziert durch Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, ein Teil von Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stoecklin, D. (2022). Children’s Right to Participation and Well-Being within and for a Sustainable Development: Towards the Expansion of the Self. In: Drerup, J., Felder, F., Magyar-Haas, V., Schweiger, G. (eds) Creating Green Citizens. Kindheit – Bildung – Erziehung. Philosophische Perspektiven. J.B. Metzler, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-63376-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-63376-2_13
Published:
Publisher Name: J.B. Metzler, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-63375-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-63376-2
eBook Packages: J.B. Metzler Humanities (German Language)