THE DISCIPLINE ENCOUNTER - CONTEMPORARY-ISSUES

The central message of this essay is that neither extreme position in the reincarnated discipline controversy offers parents an efficacious model of child rearing today, any more than it did 30 years ago when t he authoritative model was developed as a viable alternative to both t he conservative (authoritarian) model and the liberal (permissive) mod el. Each extreme contains its germ of truth - the liberal permissive m odel, that autonomy and self-tr;ill are to be cultivated, not punished ; the conservative authoritarian model, that discipline, sometimes con frontational or punitive, is required to socialize the child's self-in dulgent willfulness. But each polarized model demonizes the other and both fail to distinguish between mitigated and unmitigated agency, equ ating self-assertive individuality with unbridled aggression and egois m. The development of optimal competence in 2 children requires the cu ltivation of the ability to disobey and accept unpleasant consequences , as well as to comply with legitimate authoritative directives. Becau se socialization represents the accommodative force in society, the di sciplinary encounter, indeed socialization itself; has limited (althou gh necessary) objectives. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.