Once Upon a Time…

Every socialist knows how to fantasize; it comes with the territory. Even reading the newspaper becomes an exercise in imagining what should be rather than what is.

But who develops the capacity to fantasize and who doesn’t? What—beyond genes and early experiences in the family—shapes a child so that in later life she or he hopes for a better future and can act on that hope?

Michael Rustin, a sociologist and contributor to Dissent, and Margaret Rustin, child psy...