Preschools play with power : constructing the child, the teacher and the preschool in two Polish childcare institutions

摘要

This dissertation, situated in the framework of the new sociology ofchildhood and drawing on Michel Foucault's analytics of power, deals with theways in which power operates to construct the ideals of a preschool child, ateacher and preschool practice in two Polish childcare institutions in a largecity. It argues that in their daily practice, preschools work to reconstruct ahierarchical generational order in which adults are positioned as dominant andchildren are expected to subordinate. They play therefore a crucial role inconstructing children as a minority status group (B. Mayall). The generationalorder, however, is flexible and undergoes modifications along with changes inthe discourses about children, child-adult relations and the role of educationalinstitutions. Moreover, the generational order is constantly reestablished in apreschool daily practice, as children and adults strive to position themselves inspecific ways and children challenge their teachers' dominance.