Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Vulnerability, Childhood and the Law pp 27–46Cite as

Are Children More Vulnerable Than Adults?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Law ((BRIEFSLAW))

Abstract

Chapter 4 will challenge the assumption that children are more vulnerable than adults. It will explore the arguments in favour of universal vulnerability and argue that everyone (adults and children) has impaired capacity, is dependent on others, and has frail bodies. The argument will be made that childhood is a social construction created to disguise the vulnerability of adults. Rather than the more common argument that children’s abilities are under-estimated and that they can be as competent as adults, it will be argued that adult’s abilities are over-estimated and adults are as incompetent as children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aries P (1982) The discovery of childhood. In: Jenks C (ed) The sociology of childhood. Essential readings. Batsford, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Arneil B (2002) Becoming versus being. In: MacLeon C, Archard D(eds) The moral and political status of children. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Baier A (1994) Moral prejudices: essays on ethics. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck-Gersheim E (1996) Individualization and ‘precarious freedoms’: perspectives and controversies of a subject-orientated sociology. In Heelas P, Lash S, Morris P (eds) Detraditionalisation. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Boeree G (2009) Intelligence and IQ at http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/intelligence.html

  • Butler J (2004) Precarious life. Verso, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Carse A (2006) Vulnerability, agency and human flourishing. In Taylor C, Dell’Oro R (eds) Health and human flourishing. Georgetown University Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Chau P-L, Herring J (2007) My body, your body, our bodies. Med Law Rev 15:34–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clough B (2017) Disability and vulnerability: challenging the capacity/incapacity binary. Soc Policy Soc 16:469–481

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman C (2009) Vulnerability as a regulatory category in human subject research. J Law Med Ethics 7:12–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conly S (2014) Against autonomy. J Med Ethics 40:349–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daniel B, Bowes A (2011) Re-thinking harm and abuse: insights from a lifespan perspective. Br J Soc Work 41:820–836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day Sclater S, Piper C (2001) Social exclusion and the welfare of the child. J Law Soc 29:409–425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diduck A (2013) Autonomy and vulnerability in family law: the missing link. In: Wallbank J, Herring J (eds) Vulnerabilities, care and family law. Routledge, Abingdon

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixon R, Nussbaum M (2012) Children’s rights and a capabilities approach: the question of special priority. Cornell Law Rev 97:549

    Google Scholar 

  • Dodds S (2014) Dependence, care and vulnerability. In: Mackenzie C, Rogers W, Dodds S (eds) Vulnerability: new essays in ethics and feminist philosophy. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Drink Aware (2017) Consumption. Drinkaware, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Drobac J, Goodenough O (2015) Exposing the myth of consent. Indiana Health Law Rev 12:471–521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feder Kittay E (1999) Love’s labor: essays on women, equality and dependency. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Feder Kittay E (2005) Equality, dignity and disability. In: Lyons MA, Waldron F (eds) Perspectives on equality. Liffey Press, Dublin

    Google Scholar 

  • Fineman M (2012) “Elderly” as vulnerable: rethinking the nature of individual and societal responsibility. Elder Law Rev 17:23–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Fineman M (2013) Feminism, masculinities and multiple identities. Nevada Law Rev 13:619–654

    Google Scholar 

  • Furedi F (2014) Forward. In: Lee E, Birstow J, Fairclouth C, Macvarish J (eds) Parenting Culture Studies. Palgrave, Basingstoke

    Google Scholar 

  • Gergen K (2009) Relational being. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Gheaus A (2018) Children’s vulnerability and legitimate authority over children. J Appl Philos 35(S1):60–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Gittens D (2004) The historical construction of childhood. In: Kehily M (ed) An introduction to childhood studies. Open University Press, Buckingham

    Google Scholar 

  • Gopnik A, Glymour C, Sobel D, Schulz L, Kushnir T, Danks D (2004) A theory of causal learning in children: causal maps and bayes nets. Psychol Rev 111:3–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hannah S (2017) Why childhood is bad for children. J Appl Philos 1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring J (2008) Caregivers in medical law and ethics. J Contemp Health Law Policy 25:1–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring J (2009) Losing it? Losing what? The law and dementia. Child Fam Law Q 21:3–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring J (2013) Caring and the law. Hart, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring J (2014) Why we need a statute regime to regulate bodily material. In: Goold I, Herring J, Skene L, Greasley K (eds) Persons, parts and property: how should we regulate human tissue in the 21st century?. Hart Publishing, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring J (2017) Parental responsibility, hyper-parenting and the role of technology. In: Brownsword R, Scotford E, Yeung K (eds) The oxford handbook of law, regulation and technology. Routledge, Abingdon

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring J, Wall J (2015) Autonomy, capacity and vulnerable adults: filling the gaps in the Mental Capacity Act. Legal Stud 35(4):698–719

    Google Scholar 

  • HM Government (2014) Disability facts and figures. HM Government, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurst S (2008) Vulnerability in research and health care. Bioethics 22:187–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James A, Jenks C, Prout A (1998) Childhood in social space. In: James A, Chris J, Prout A (eds) Theorizing childhood. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenks C (2005) Childhood projection. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Kane L (2015) Childhood, growth and dependency in liberal political philosophy. Hypatia 31:156–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kehily M (2010) Childhood in crisis? Tracing the contours of ‘crisis’ and its impact upon contemporary parenting practices. Media Cult Soc 32:171–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lévinas E (1993) Humanismo Del Otro Hombre. Caparros, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • Levy N (2014) Forced to be free? Increasing patient autonomy by constraining it. J Med Ethics 40:293–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindemann K (2003) The ethics of receiving. Theor Med Bioeth 24:501–524

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackenzie C, Rogers W (2013) Autonomy, vulnerability and capacity: a philosophical appraisal of the Mental Capacity Act. Int J Law Context 9:37–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackenzie C, Rogers W, Dodds S (2014) Vulnerability. New essays in ethics and feminist philosophy. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Matambanadzo S (2012) Embodying vulnerability: a feminist theory of the person. Duke J Gend Law Policy 20:45–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews G (1996) The philosophy of childhood. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin K (2012) Surviving identity: vulnerability and the psychology of recognition. Routledge, Abingdon

    Google Scholar 

  • McManus S, Bebbington P, Jenkins R, Brugha T (eds) (2016) Mental health and wellbeing in England: adult psychiatric morbidity survey. NHS Digital, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills C (2003) The child’s right to an open future. J Soc Philos 34:499–521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mouritsen F (2002) Child culture-play culture. In: Mouritsen F, Qvortrup J (eds) Childhood and children’s culture. University Press of Southern Denmark, Odense

    Google Scholar 

  • Neal M (2012) “Not gods but animals”: human dignity and vulnerable subjecthood. Liverpool Law Rev 33:177–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NHS (2017) Obesity. NHS, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Norozi S, Moen T (2016) Childhood as a social construction. J Educ Soc Res 6:75–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Perpich D (2010) Vulnerability and the ethics of facial tissue transplantation. Bioethical Inq 7:173–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson A, Wilkinson I (2007) Health, risk and vulnerability. Routledge, Abingdon

    Google Scholar 

  • Redelmeier D, Rozin P, Kahneman D (1993) Understanding patients’ decisions: cognitive and emotional perspectives. J Am Med Assoc 270:72–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers W, Mackenzie C, Dodds S (2012) Why bioethics needs a theory of vulnerability. Int J Feminist Approaches Bioeth 5:11–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shakespeare T (2000) Help. Verso, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Shildrick M (1997) Leaky bodies and boundaries. Routledge, Abingdon

    Google Scholar 

  • Shildrick M (2002) Embodying the monster: encounters with the vulnerable self. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer P (2009) Speciesism and moral status. Metaphilosophy 40:56–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todres J (2014) Independent children and the legal construction of childhood. South Calif Interdisc Law J 23:261–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Wall J (2017) Being oneself. In: Foster C, Herring J (eds) Depression and the law. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Welie J, Welie S (2001) Is incompetence the exception or the rule? Med Health Care Philos 4:125–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams F (2002) The presence of feminism in the future of welfare. Econ Soc 31:502–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodhead M (2013) Childhood: a developmental approach. In: Kehily M (ed) Understanding childhood: a cross disciplinary approach. The Open University, Buckingham

    Google Scholar 

  • World Medical Association (2008) Declaration of Helsinki

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, Exeter College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Jonathan Herring

Authors
  1. Jonathan Herring
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonathan Herring .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Herring, J. (2018). Are Children More Vulnerable Than Adults?. In: Vulnerability, Childhood and the Law. SpringerBriefs in Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78686-5_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78686-5_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78685-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78686-5

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation