Civic Capitalism: The State of Childhood

Susan McKnight is an administrator of the Courts Technology Integrated Justice Project at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.

In this book, John O’Neill explores the idea of human capital and its
emergence as a measure of a nation’s functionality: a nation can have
a healthy economy and a more democratic government only if the barriers
of sickness, inequality, and ignorance are removed. Placing the emphasis
on children, the author argues that children are our most important
civic capital, and that if they are devastated by disease, ignorance,
and inequality, then our society is doomed to fail.

In his arguments against the current elitist policies and concentration
on global markets, O’Neill draws on the economic and political
theories of John Kenneth Galbraith, R.H. Tawney, and John Rawls. He
discusses education, child poverty, welfare states, and the rights and
responsibilities of the family and the child. His well-documented and
cogently argued book will be of interest to anyone who regards social
justice as an important part of North American life.