Making Them Strong? Vulnerability, capabilities and resilience in poor children
| Autor | Alexander Bagattini - Rebecca Gutwald |
| Cargo | Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Ludwig Maximilians Universität München - Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Ludwig Maximilians Universität München |
| Páginas | 194-220 |
Periódico do Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre Gênero e Direito
Centro de Ciências Jurídicas - Universidade Federal da Paraíba
V. 5 - Nº 03 - Ano 2016 – International Journal
ISSN | 2179-7137 | http://periodicos.ufpb.br/ojs2/index.php/ged/index
194
DOI: 10.18351/2179-7137/ged.v5n3p194-220
MAKING THEM STRONG? VULNERABILITY, CAPABILITIES
AND RESILIENCE IN POOR CHILDREN
Alexander Bagattini1
Rebecca Gutwald2
Abstract: The main purpose of our paper
consists in establishing the idea that the
negative consequences that result from
child poverty can be mitigated if the
government and social workers promote
the resilience of poor children. We use
Amartya Sen’s capability approach as an
evaluative framework to argue for this
thesis. By distinguishing different
sources of vulnerability we assume that
children are inherently vulnerable,
because they are dependent and in need
of care. Poor children are, however, even
more vulnerable in specific ways.
Following Catriona MacKenzie, we call
these vulnerabilities “pathogenetic”; they
are caused by social arrangements like
institutional settings. We claim that at
least some some of those vulnerabilities
can and should be diminished by
promoting children’s resilience. We
1 Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Ludwig Maximilians Universität M ünchen. Email: bagattini@lrz.uni-
muenchen.de.
2Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiterin, Ludwig Maximilians Universität München. Email:
rebecca.gutwald@lrz.uni-muenchen.de.
proceed in three steps. In the first part of
the paper, we develop our concept of
vulnerability and explain how child
poverty renders children vulnerable to
specific harms. Here we also introduce
the capability approach by asking which
capabilities children need for coping with
this situation. In part two we argue that
the concept of resilience helps us to
understand why capabilities (and not
resources or abilities) are relevant for
coping with the adverse effects of child
poverty. We claim that promoting the
capabilities of children is a matter of
justice, and that implementing resilience
is, too. It is also highly important to see
that promoting resilience is mainly a
social matter, not a task the individual
child has to fulfil on its own. Hence, we
argue that children are entitled to gain
those capabilities that promote their
Periódico do Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre Gênero e Direito
Centro de Ciências Jurídicas - Universidade Federal da Paraíba
V. 5 - Nº 03 - Ano 2016 – International Journal
ISSN | 2179-7137 | http://periodicos.ufpb.br/ojs2/index.php/ged/index
195
DOI: 10.18351/2179-7137/ged.v5n3p194-220
resilience against the adverse effects of
poverty. In part three we discuss several
difficulties of our account, such as the
danger that children will be burdened
with coping with the effects of poverty
instead of society fighting poverty.
Keywords: vulnerability, resilience,
capability approach
Introduction
Child poverty is a worldwide
occurring phenomenon that occurs not
only in undeveloped countries but in
highly developed and rich parts of the
world as well, such as Europe or Northern
America. According to the social report
of the European Union (EU) of 2007,
more than 19% of children in Europe live
in poverty (European Commission,
2007). No one denies that poverty has
many adverse effects on the people
suffering from it. For example, poor
people are statistically less healthy, less
educated, less happy and more concerned
by social and familial problems. One does
not need a demanding conception of the
good life for claiming that poverty
disadvantages those suffering from it and
that any adequate conception of justice
has to address it in some way. This is truer
for children. Children are at least less
competent than adults when it comes to
facing the effects of poverty. Moreover,
children are passively exposed to the
conditions they live in and not
responsible for it. Taking into account the
adverse effects of child poverty there is,
therefore, a strong rationale for claiming
that children should be protected from
those effects. This paper investigates a
specific idea for doing so.
The main thesis of this paper is
that many adverse effects of child poverty
could be mitigated by promoting the
resilience of children. Our background
assumption is that child poverty renders
children vulnerable in specific regards.
We argue that at least some of those
vulnerabilities that are linked to
childhood poverty can be mitigated by
promoting children’s resilience. In the
first part of the paper we develop the
concept of vulnerability and explain how
child poverty renders children vulnerable
to specific harms, and we ask which
capabilities children need for coping with
this situation. In part two we argue that
the concept of resilience helps us to
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