THE SOCIOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: ANOTHER LOOK AT CHILDREN AND THEIR CULTURES

Abstract

The sociology of childhood introduces new discourses and concepts about the child, considered in this theoretical perspective as a social and historical actor belonging to a permanent generational category with its own statute: childhood. Children are also producers of cultures, conceived as specific forms of construction of intelligibility, communication, and expression. The axes of the cultures of childhood become private languages whereby the child understands and is manifested in the social and cultural world. The sociological approach of childhood brings relevant contributions for the unveiling of this social category in contemporary times of profound transformation, and represents an important milestone for the defense of children’s rights in different social spaces, in particular, in the context of formal education. The experiences reported, supported in this theoretical approach, were the result of an investigation into a children’s educational institution, based on the methodology of action-research and with the commitment of the subjects involved. The results revealed that the premises of this theoretical field are promising for the construction of educational practices that serve children and their needs for communication, expression, participation, learning and human training.