The public/private dichotomy: A threat to children’s fellow citizenship?

Summary When child-raising involves violence, a conflict of values arises between the parents’ autonomy and the children’s right to equal participation in a democratic society. In this article I discuss, from the perspective of discourse analysis, how a dichotomous understanding of the public versus private sphere can constitute a threat to children’s fellow citizenship. One of the questions I dwell upon is if there is a contradictory relationship between, on the one side, a type of thought that identifies the child with the family and private sphere and, on the other hand, the understanding of the child as active participant in a democratic society.