Randi Wærdahl

'May be I'll need a pair of Levi's before junior high?' - Child to youth trajectories and anticipatory socialization

Changing schools at the age of 12 also represents a change in social age identity. Children prepare for this change of age identity in different ways, and their strategies vary across sociocultural contexts as well as between individuals. In this article, some of these strategies are explored through ethnographic observation and interviews with Norwegian 12-year-olds preparing and anticipating a change of school, making use of Robert Merton’s concept of ‘anticipatory socialization’. Merton’s concept describes the building of personal abilities, alienation from one’s former group and adaptation to new norms as social processes identifying change of social reference group. These terms are employed here to identify social processes initiating children’s orientation to a youth identity. The functions that material possessions fulfil are related to the ability to symbolically communicate both categorically and self-expressively a growing normative awareness and a sense of value.

Teddy Diaries A Method for Studying the Display of Family Life

In this article, we show how circulated diaries can be used as a source of knowledge about the display and normative standards of family life. The par ticular strength of the data lies in the circulation among members of a local public before reaching the researcher. This keeps researcher intervention low, while the data remain socially and culturally saturated. In addition, the method allows for comparative cultural research, which is illustrated by the examples taken from Norway and China. Having two sets of data from different contexts adds to the richness of the data by providing a contrast that is needed to illuminate the taken-for-granted.

Socializing relations in the everyday lives of children: Comparing domestic texts from Norway and China

The text material analysed in this article consists of 20 teddy-diaries that circulated between the families of 6-year-old children in Beijing, China and in Oslo, Norway. The circulation process makes teddy-diaries highly normatively saturated domestic stories from families with 6-year-old children. A quantitative analysis of these texts inspired by Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA) developed by Harvey Sacks (1972) reveals what is deemed significant relations for children in each culture. By identifying actions and contexts that are described as relevant and appropriate for these significant relations, the researcher can also achieve a better understanding of how these relations are constructed as socializing relations in the everyday lives of children. The article finds that the learning styles and positioning of the child in everyday lives is participatory, play and peer oriented in Norway and instructional, encouraging and progress oriented in China.

Gender differences in Norwegian children’s work at home

The division of labour between men and women has been thoroughly discussed in Norway over the last decades, in research as well as in political and public debate. In contrast, there has been little recognition of children’s involvement in work, and differences between girls’ and boys’ work is seldom addressed. This article looks at the extent of children’s work at home, how work is distributed among girls and boys, and whether gender variations correlate with parents’ socialization goals, work statuses and level of education. The findings show that there are small but significant differences between girls’ and boys’ involvement in work at home. It is also found that there is a significant gender bias in how children perceive expectations of work and participation at home. There is, however, little evidence to support that gender differences derive from gendered differences in parents’ socialization goals (values) or as gendered role models (work status and educational level). The authors argue that the variations are more likely to derive from a generalized socially constructed image of what mothers and fathers do. This article contributes to the ongoing discussion about the reproduction of gender roles and gendered practices in a society characterized by a strong orientation towards gender equality.

Who’s at risk? Expanding the categorical understanding of children at risk of social exclusion through measures of self-esteem

Abstract A strong focus on early intervention involves broad categories by which to assess children at risk of social marginalisation. Most of these categories relate to family characteristics and qualities. In this article, we explore social vulnerability from children’s perspectives and consider whether their self-esteem provides evidence for risk of social marginalisation, here understood as exclusion from social, academic, and cultural communities. The data are derived from a survey of 10-year-old children in the south of Norway on their everyday life and well-being (N = 1360). We have constructed an index of global self-esteem. First, we find a significant correlation between low global self-esteem and personal social vulnerability. Next, we quite surprisingly find no significant correlation between children’s global self-esteem and their family characteristics. The final analysis reveals a correlation between children’s global self-esteem and their social networks. These results prompt us to question some of the common assumptions about the association between family characteristics and social vulnerability. Our results show that more attention should be paid to children’s social networks, regardless of family characteristics. More importantly, the results show that global self-esteem – including self-evaluations of academic skills, athletic skills, feelings of self-worth, and sociability – is a fruitful approach to expanding our categorical understanding of children at risk.