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Interpretive reproduction in children's role play

Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

Recent theoretical developments in sociology, anthropology, and psychology have led to the development of an interpretive approach to childhood socialization. From the interpretive perspective, socialization is viewed as a reproductive rather than a linear process. The process is reproductive in the sense that children do not merely indi vidually internalize the external adult culture. Rather children become a part of adult culture, that is, contribute to its reproduction, through their negotiations with adults and their creative production of a series of peer cultures with other children. In this paper I analyze an everyday activity in the peer culture of young children, their pro duction of dramatic role play. The comparative micro-analysis of the role play of white middle-class and black lower-class children captures how the children's produc tion and sharing of important elements of their peer cultures contribute to the repro duction of basic features of the American class structure.

Key Words: children's role play • interpretive • reproduction • child hood • socialization • role play • micro-analysis

Childhood, Vol. 1, No. 2, 64-74 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/090756829300100202


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