Children make you happier … and poorer

Abstract

This article, which formed the opening keynote address of the Fifth International Conference on Children’s Spirituality, addresses the place of children in the globalized social economy. It begins by arguing that current attitudes in the West towards children are conditioned by several contradictions in consumerism. Children, no longer as labourers, but as manipulated consumers, draw their own parents into the trap of globalization. This state of affairs continues because of spiritual poverty.

Keywords:

• Childhood
• Commodification
• Market
• Society
• Spirituality