Reconsidering Citizenship by Taking Parenthood Seriously: Duff’s The Parent as Citizen

• Published in: Theory & Event Vol. 15; no. 1; p. N_A
• Main Author: Tronto, Joan C
• Format: Journal Article Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 2012
• Subjects: Parents & parenting; West, Cornel
• ISSN: 1092-311X; 2572-6633; 1092-311X
• DOI: 10.1353/tae.2012.0003

Duff thus offers a reading of Rousseau that makes it clear how the changes in eighteenth century life with which he was trying to cope play a fundamental role in rethinking his understanding of all social institutions, including the family. [...]though, West appeals for more government support to stop this war; thus Duff argues, West and Hewlett transform the active citizen's role into that of a recipient of government benefits. In my reading, West and Hewlett's argument is more an extension of this line of argument to all parents, rather than just to mothers. [...]their view is not simply an old-fashioned recitation of the need for government assistance but an attempt to think through what is necessary for parents to act as good parents. [...]if one returns to the classic starting point of contemporary feminist philosophizing about care-Ruddick's Maternal Thinking-one discovers that 'mothers' (who Ruddick assumes includes both men and women) have as one of their role's most difficult challenges the task of balancing among three competing goals of mothering: protection of the child's life, the child's growth, and the requirement that the child somehow 'fit into' society.