Are parents powerful or powerless? A sociologist has described the contemporary parent-child relation as the most uneven power relation in today's society. The closest analogous relation, he says, is the master-slave relation in ancient Greek society. However, for most parents, what is most real are the limits they experience and not the power they enjoy. Can these positions be reconciled? Come and meet St Jerome's new Vice-President and Academic Dean as he discusses this issue. Using selections from his book, Power and Parenting: a Hermeneutic of the Human Condition, Dr. Bonner, a parent himself, will develop an analytic story which promises to reconcile the contradictory experiences of power and powerlessness that are part of contemporary parenting. In this presentation, he seeks to encourage new thinking on parenting and the meaning of social power.
Dr. Kieran Bonner
In July 1999 Kieran Bonner was appointed Vice President, Academic Dean and Professor of Sociology at St. Jerome's University. He comes to St. Jerome's from Augustana University College in Alberta where he was Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies and International Programs. He is also currently an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta. He completed his B.A. at Trinity College in Dublin, and M.A. and Ph.D. at York University in Toronto. He is the author of two books: Power and Parenting: A Hermeneutic of The Human Condition (1998) and A Great Place to Raise Kids: Interpretation, Science and the Urban-Rural Debate (1999). He is co-founder and editor of the journal Dianoia. He has done presentations on his research in Galway, Dublin, Edinburgh, Perugia, Berkeley, Seattle, as well as well as in many Canadian cities.