Children’s Autonomy and Responsibility: An Analysis of Childrearing Advice

Employing qualitative content analysis of 300 childrearing advice articles from Parents magazine, this paper maps historical changes in the depiction of parental authority and children’s autonomy. This popular text reveals increased autonomy for children in their private self-expression, especially in regard to activities of daily living, personal appearance, and defiance of parents. However, the magazine also portrays children’s diminished public autonomy as revealed through increasingly restricted freedom of movement and substantially delayed acceptance of meaningful responsibilities. An appreciation of popular childrearing advice as a measure of individualistic cultural values thus requires an understanding of larger social changes that shift attention from public participation toward private self-expression.     

Preparing for Practice: An Evaluation of an Undergraduate Social Work ‘Preparation for Practice’ Module

The requirement for social work students to undergo assessed preparation prior to undertaking their first practice placement raises key questions about the type of knowledge and experience that is needed for those at the start of their training. This paper shows the need for social work educators to become re‐engaged in debates about the practice–theory relationship and to explore what is meant by an incremental approach to learning. A Preparation for Practice Learning module which was delivered to a cohort of Level 1 undergraduate social work students at a London university is described and evaluated. The paper highlights the key themes which emerged from the evaluation; these include the importance of work shadowing, observational learning and the centrality of critical reflection in aiding students' personal and professional learning. A discussion of its effectiveness in preparing students for their first practice learning experience follows. It concludes by recommending how students' learning in relation to the nature of social work and the skills required to undertake the role effectively might be addressed within the curriculum. Finally, a Preparation for Practice Learning model based on these findings is proposed.     

Authority,Autonomy, and Ambivalence: Moral Choice in Twentieth-Century Commencement Speeches

This paper examines whether moral individualism has become a public moral philosophy by tracking changes in the ritualized rhetoric of moral choice in twentieth-century college commencement speeches. Content analysis of 171 speeches reveals that the rhetoric of choice becomes more prevalent and increasingly individualistic during the twentieth century. In addition, the rhetoric of moral choice is found to increasingly emphasize subjective moral autonomy rather than objective moral authority. Despite the importance of individual moral choice in commencement speech rhetoric, expressions of anxiety and ambivalence about the subjective approach to morality indicate unease with the rapid individualization characteristic of our times.