What about the Kids of Racist Parents? The Containment of Unreasonableness and the Challenge of Parenthood

Abstract Contemporary history is, unfortunately, full of examples of democratic societies in which many citizens came to hold deeply unjust views. One cause of this phenomenon is that unjust views spread intergenerationally within the family. This paper questions how parents are to be prevented from transmitting unjust views onto their children. The standard response is that states have a duty to contain these views and ensure that they do not spread to future adults. I argue that this response is incomplete because state policies that are likely to be effective are unjustifiable, and policies that are justifiable are unlikely to be sufficiently effective. By contrast, I defend an alternative view: individuals who have access to the children of parents who hold unjust views have a duty to bear costs, such as time and emotional labour, in order to influence these children. I defend two arguments in favour of this duty and then respond to the objection that it is unfair to hold individuals liable for the costs of unreasonable parents’ decisions.