SUE L. T. MCGREGOR PHD PROFESSORMOUNT SAINT VINCENT UNIVERSITY

SUE.MCGREGOR@MSVU.CAWWW.CONSULTMCGREGOR.COM

PANEL DISCUSSION AT INTERNATIONAL SUMMER COURSE ON

THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILDUNIVERSITÉ DE MONCTON

MONCTON NB CANADAJULY 2013

Protecting Children from the Violence of Consumerism

Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, with emphasis

Article 19 states children have “the right to protection from all forms of physical and mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation... while in the care of parent(s), legal guardians (s) or any other person who has the care of the child. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child...” (UN, 1989, p. 7, emphasis added).

Revised Article 19 for consumerism as a form of structural violence

Children have the right to protection from the structural violence of a consumer culture and the ideology of consumerism while in the care of parent(s), legal guardians (s) or any other person who has the care of the child (especially their teachers and educators). Such protective measures include curricula focused on a critical pedagogy of peace, justice and non-violence to provide the necessary support for the child (consumer and labourer) and for those who have the care of the child.

Consumerism is an ideology

Consumption is behaviour informed by the ideology

“a set of beliefs and values, integral but not exclusive to the system of capitalist globalization, intended to make people believe that human worth is best ensured and happiness is best achieved in terms of our consumption and possessions.”

Consumerism is "economically manifested in the chronic purchasing of goods and services, with little attention to their true need, durability, origin of the product or the environmental consequences of manufacture, [usage] and disposal."

Consumerism versus consumption

Consumerism is a form of structural violence

As a concept, structural violence strives to account for the injustice, marginalization, exploitation, oppression, discrimination and other social ills that exist because of the way society has organized itself.

Structural violence is almost invisible, embedded in the ubiquitous social structures, and normalized by stable, enabling institutions and by people’s regular experiences and patterns of living.

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Features of Structural Violence

Institutions and policies are designed in such a way that barriers are built into society leading to some people being harmed due to no action of their own.

Because these social inequities are longstanding, they usually seem ordinary, the way things are done, and always have been; hence, they go unchallenged.

The results are unequal power and unequal life chances. Structural violence leads to social inequalities, injustice, insecurity and infringement on human rights.

School is out at 3PM or earlier

Parents (guardians) are working until at least 5PM

Example of Structural Violence

Huge time gap!

Consumerism as Structural Violence

Consumption has become the cornerstone of most people’s daily lives - it is a social institution, defining daily patterns of living.

It is almost impossible to buy a product without harming others, other species and/or the environment...

BECAUSE….. of structure of the global economy and the consumer marketplace (product and service development, packaging, marketing, advertising, distribution chains, retailing).

More on consumerism as structural violence

It is unthinkable for most people that they are perpetuating the onslaught of human rights infringements, war, injustice, inner turmoil or ecological destruction when all they do is….

Unpeaceful consumption

Consumerism as structural violence

Who would have thought these innocuous, mundane purchases were underpinned by structural violence?

But, they are. The labour behind the product or service,

the intensity and externalities of production processes and the end-chain disposal issues create injustices around the world – especially for children!

There are close to 2 Billion children. 215 million are child labourers while the world’s affluent children (3% of all the world’s consumers) spend upwards of $1.18US TRILLION a year

Children as consumers Children as labourers

Children as consumers and labourers both need to be protected from the violence of the

consumerism ideology

Children as consumers Children as labourers

are very vulnerable because their cognitive processing skills are not fully developed. Their critical thinking, reasoned judgements, resistance to persuasion and manipulation, and ability to assign appropriate meanings to messages emanating from the marketplace are in question, and usually deficient

are very vulnerable because they engage in work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, deprives them of their potential and dignity, and is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful

Children as consumers and labourers both need to be protected from the consumerism

This paper focuses on the children doing the consuming, in hopes that their changed behaviour will have positive outcomes for the children labouring to

produce goods and services.

In a consumer culture, people are so indoctrinated into the logic of the market that they cannot see anything wrong with what they are doing.

Because they do not (or cannot) critically challenge the market ideology and the myth of consumerism, they actually contribute to their own oppression (i.e., become slaves of the market), as well as the oppression of others.

Turning on Cognitive Skills

In order for children to “see” how their consumer behaviour is oppressive and exploitive, and to appreciate the structural violence shaping their daily lives as consumers, their cognitive skills need to be turned on and honed.

Aside from their parents or guardians, who help socialize children to be consumers, the best persons for the task of enhancing critical cognitive skills are their teachers (critical thinking, rhetoric and argumentation, dialogue, debate and deliberation, as well as values reasoning)

Steeped in a consumer culture

AND – in order for educators to best embrace this task, they have to understand the challenges of educating for human rights and peace within a consumer society, which has market values at its core: competition, scarcity, materialism, wealth and profit, self-interest, efficiency, growth

Youth and educators are BOTH steeped in this consumer culture. Once something is infused into something else, it is almost impossible to separate them again (like tea steeped in water).

What is needed is a new infusion; students need to be steeped in a culture of peace, and as early as possible! The steeping process enables something to release its active ingredients.

Culture of Peace, Non-violence and Human Rights active ingredients

Everyday attitude of non-violenceFierce determination to defend human rights and human

dignity Hope, persistence, solidarity, inclusiveness and morality will

be the norm Principles of tolerance, open mindedness, sustainability,

participation and democracy are paramountA global awareness and perspective, cooperation and a deep

respect for interdependency are key features Responsibility and accountability are central values Mutual support, empathetic listening and unwavering respectOngoing, rigorous critique of the ideological status quo (e.g.,

consumerism)The well-being of all citizens come before the self interest of

the few

Children and educators are steeped in a cacophony of consumer culture messages

Need to be liberated from this ‘noise’ via critical education

Role of Educators

Protecting Both Spenders and Labourers

In the spirit of Article 19, educators need to accept that consumerism is a form of structural violence and then balance their curricula and pedagogy with insights from a culture of peace and non-violence.

Educators also need to focus on educating the parents and the guardians of the vagaries of the consumer culture so they can bring a different perspective to their role as consumer socialization agents for their children.

With refined cognitive skills, the youth doing the spending can crawl out from under the oppression of the consumer culture, and challenge the ideology of consumerism with alternative perspectives.

They will then ‘spend differently’ such that the youth making the consumer products (child labourers) are less likely to experience the fallout of the violence of consumerism.

All children could then be protected from the insidious, ubiquitous violence of capitalistic consumerism by being infused with the principles of a culture of peace.

Revised Article 19 for consumerism

Children have the right to protection from the structural violence of a consumer culture and the ideology of consumerism while in the care of parent(s), legal guardians (s) or any other person who has the care of the child (especially their teachers and educators). Such protective measures include curricula focused on a critical pedagogy of peace, justice and non-violence to provide the necessary support for the child (spender and labourer) and for those who have the care of the child.

Protecting ALL Children from the Violence of Consumerism