Governing the liberated child with self-managed family displays

Bibliographic Data

ID3104162
AuthorsMarit Haldar (0000-0002-3505-1073, Oslo and Akershus University College, Norway), Eivind Engebretsen (0000-0001-9455-110X, University of Oslo)
Year2014
Volume21
Issue4
Pages475-487
Publication date2014-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChildhood (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0907-5682 • E-ISSN: 1461-7013
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0907568213508589
OpenAlexW2316798374
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited15

The 1990s witnessed the replacement of psychological perspectives seeing children as 'becomings' to a view of them as 'beings'. This is challenged by the Foucauldian concept of governmentality understood as technologies of self-making actors capable of monitoring and controlling their own behaviour. This concept is central in the present study of so-called teddy-diaries, which are texts written by first graders and their parents and circulated among other families as part of the Norwegian school curriculum. A key finding of the analyses is that these circulated and displayed texts represent technologies for governing families - especially in reinforcing expectations about how 'normal' childhood and family life should be lived

Developmental psychology · Governmentality · Norwegian · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Child Development and Digital Technology · Children's Rights and Participation · Early Childhood Education and Development · Psychology · Social Psychology