This paper explores contemporary discourse on temperamental differences in children
in terms of how it embodies a central tension in modern liberal democratic society.
This is the tension between normalization (the delineation of forms of behavior and
experience that are deemed undesirable, in order to bring normative ideals of
personhood into sharper focus), on the one hand, and a commitment to pluralism and
the inclusion of diverse modes of experience and being on the other. Through
examination of recent texts written for parents and professionals, it is argued that
while contemporary North American temperament writings and practices evince
normalizing elements, they also contain genuinely ironic and contextualizing
features which challenge or attenuate the trend towards an increasing
pathologization of various species of personality and behavioral ‘difference’.
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