Development, Displacement and Delinquency: The United States Model

Abstract

This paper discusses the impact of capitalist development on the position of children and how the nature of the position is linked to problems of delinquency. In particular, the position of children in modern day capitalist societies is described in terms of an enlarging period of time that is characterized by a deprivation of status, forced dependency, segregation or ghettoization, and increasing alienation. This position is initially created as a result of the displacement of children in the transition from an agrarian based society to that of an industrial capitalist based society. The experience of children in the United States as a result of this transformation is highlighted and changes in the position of children in the developing world are discussed as they are linked to the development strategies promoted by the United States and other the leading capitalist nations, and world lending agencies like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The United Nation's children's rights movement is discussed as a counter force to address some of the outcomes of this displacement of children. However, policy makers who promote these development strategies should consider the change in the position of children and its relationship to delinquency as a significant avoidable cost.