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In his book The Industry Called Parenting Amitai Etzioni suggests that Western society undergoes a process of atomizing, when hedonistic impulses define the behavior of more and more young people. Author links it with the fact that parents do not spent enough time raising their children into productive members of society. Etzioni implies that parenting, just as any industry in post-modern society, is based on the principle of division of duties. Therefore, the process of parenting can be rationalized.
According to the author, it is wrong to impose dominant social ethics in the field of parenting. Instead, he suggests that this process needs to be de-socialized, when relationship, within a family, is built on the notion of common good, which Etzioni confuses with psychological comfort. Etzioni argues that we need to think of parenting from ethical perspective. Thus, instead of being subjected to socio-political trends, which he describes as being spiritually destructive, the process of parenting must be thought of as the expression of metaphysical essence of Western civilization. This is why; author promotes the notion of idealistic self-discipline as the most important educational principle. In its turn, he thinks of it as something that is being taught, rather than genetically passed from parents to children.
Many of Etzioni's claims can be described as naive. For example, he attaches a great importance to ethical considerations, when it comes to parenting. Author thinks that it is quite possible to establish a division of duty, between parents, by the mean of unemotional reasoning. In fact, Etzioni's work does not contain any original ideas. He is clearly having a problem, trying to stay focused on the subject. In addition, the value of his work is undermined by numerous logical inconsistencies, such as referring to parenting as industry, while suggesting that the nature of parenting implies application of moral principles.
One does not have to be a genius to understand that the notions of morality and industry do not always correlate. Apart from the fact that Etzioni's book is plagued by needless wordiness, author also does not provide solid evidence for his theory to be based upon. Basically, The Industry Called Parenting is a set of well-meaning ides, which do not correspond to the objective reality. Some of authors ideas are banal to such an extent that it is very hard to believe he is a Professor at George Washington University: I am not calling for women to stay at home. I am calling for more parenting by both sides (Etzioni). Etzioni assumes that his theory has universal value, but the absence of solid evidence, which could support it factually, prevents us from taking authors claims seriously.
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