ABSTRACT
Any design for a nonviolent world must take special account of what happens to children, and what they are prepared for. Since in any case they are the shapers of the future, we cannot avoid an examination of the nature of the child and the impact of various socialization experiences on the child's capacity to act nonviolently on a changing social order. This chapter suggests that the life experience of persons committed to a belief in and action on behalf of nonviolent social change includes the following feature: substantial exposure to events in the larger society, and the knowledge stock of that society. Change-agent roles are selected by persons who feel they can effectively act on society to change it for the better. Spiritual bonding as a preprogrammed response may seem like an odd concept to introduce into a study of socialization for nonviolent social change.
