Violence against children within and outside the family has a long history. More recently, beatings were considered not only a natural, but also a necessary part of education.
A distinctive feature of the author’s style of Igor Kon is the ability to approach the most acute problems with the calmness of a scientist and the indifference of a humanist. He never offers ready-made answers — but clarifies the question and takes into account the context in which this question arises. Violence against children within and outside the family has a long history. More recently, beatings were considered not only a natural, but also a necessary part of education. What psychological mechanisms underlie violence? Is the intention to completely stop the assault feasible? Will an attempt to fight him turn into an invasion of privacy? How could it ever happen that a child is subjected to corporal punishment when no society regards him as an enemy or a criminal? Igor Kon saw the task of his interdisciplinary work in helping us to «meaningfully, and not dogmatically form our own life position on these difficult issues.»
TIME, 448 s.