Becoming morally equipped: A study of children’s public expressions

Abstract

This article discusses the notion of a ‘morally equipped’ childhood and adolescence, and how such a notion can help us get a fresh perspective on the relation between young people’s participation and empowerment, and the formation of personal and the collective moral repertoires of modern society. Utilising a mixed-methods approach inspired by the sociology of conventions (SC) and the sociology of regimes of engagement (SRE), we analyse letters to the editor of the Norwegian children’s newspaper Aftenposten Junior, to investigate the formats of children’s generalised moral arguments. We demonstrate that our informants exhibit a broad moral sensibility in the letters we have analysed, particularly showing keen engagement with issues related to civic rights. We discuss the young participants’ expressions in the light of convention theory. We make a case for how becoming ‘morally equipped’ could be understood as being able to engage, challenge, and articulate the tensions and negotiations between personal formats of daily experiences and interactions, and collective formats, such as public expressions, throughout childhood and adolescence.