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Changing Rationales For Governing the Child

A Historical Perspective on the Emergence of the Psychological Child in the Context of Preschool - Notes on a Study in Progress

Stockholm Institute of Education kenneth.hultqvist{at}lhs.se

This article is about a period of transition (1920-40) in the history of the Swedish preschool when Friedrich Fröbel's discourse on the child, which was the major discourse in the early days of the preschool movement in Sweden, gradually became replaced by the discourse of developmental psychology. The article's major concern is with the issue of change in preschool discourse about the child. Using the Foucauldian theme of governmentality, the article argues that change in preschool discourse is related to the emergence of new rationales for governing the child. In addition, the article argues that a comparison with the child that emerged in the context of schooling during the 19th century, is essential for the understanding of the post-Fröbel discourse about the child. It is suggested that the child of the post-Fröbel period is in fact the product of a reinvention of the evangelical streams of thought of the 19th century.

Key Words: childhood • political rationalities • preschool • psychology

Childhood, Vol. 4, No. 4, 405-424 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/0907568297004004003


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