An issue of the journal Sociological Research has been published with a section dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the "Sociology of Childhood" in the world:
- Mayorova-Shcheglova S. N., Kolosova E. A. Children and childhood as objects of sociological research. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya. 2018. No. 3. S. 62-69.
Resume: The article presents three stages in the development of the sociology of childhood: from the study of children within the framework of general sociological approaches to socialization theories and the gradual formation of a "new" sociology of childhood. This sectoral sociology in its current state is based on understanding children as active members of society, conducting a comparative analysis of various groups of children in interdisciplinary research in the field of childhood. The general and specific characteristics of Russian and foreign theoretical, methodological and empirical studies are highlighted. The need to revise the periodization of childhood, which should be based on new phenomena and the specifics of children's activities, especially those related to informatization processes and consumer practices, is argued. The prospects for the professionalization of the community of Russian sociologists of childhood in the technologies and methods of research of the new generation are outlined.
Keywords: childhood; sociology of childhood; scientific discussions; sociological associations; institutionalization; Russian sociology of childhood; childhood studies
- Saralieva Z.Kh., Kutyavina E.E. Children's voice and children's view of adult problems // Sociological research. 2018. No. 3. S. 70-76.
Annotation: The article presents the results of studies in 2012–2016 on the quality of life of children; their adaptation to learning and school interaction at different levels of education; conflicts, aggression and violence at school; career guidance work with school graduates; intra-family interaction, relation to family members. Factors that increase the risk of participation in various situations of school violence (verbal or physical, aggressor or victim) have been identified and systematized. The following are identified as significant risk factors: family trouble, material trouble, death loved one, relocation. The problems of adaptation to school at different stages of education, the peculiarities of motivation for schoolchildren of different ages to study, the specific problems of adaptation of schoolchildren from migrant families are identified. On the basis of a study of the value orientations of high school students and their parents, the similarities and differences in the ideas of students and their parents about education and future profession are highlighted; about the preferred, acceptable and unacceptable professional choice. The authors note the problems that arise when conducting mass surveys of junior and middle classes, which can be overcome by careful control of the survey situation and the use of additional, non-standardized research methods (observation, interviews). Research results show the need to take into account children's opinions about both "children's" (friendship, school performance, relationships with peers) and "adult" problems (poverty, divorce, migration). The authors note some organizational problems when conducting surveys at school.
Keywords: childhood; sociology of childhood; school violence; problems of school adaptation; choice of profession
- Savinskaya O. B. The social order of the kindergarten through the eyes of children: constructing the world of childhood through an interview game. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya. 2018. No. 3. S. 77-85.
Resume: The article describes the importance of studying childhood as a self-sufficient object of social practice. An overview of the formation of this direction in sociology is given, the main postulates are indicated. The empirical part is devoted to the study of the kindergarten as a special life world of children. Particular attention is paid to the description of the data collection method - interview-game as an adequate method for studying the opinions of children. The methodological features of the implementation of the interview game are outlined: the use of psychodramatic techniques, the use of children's toys (characters) to project the situations under discussion. The process of formation of trusting relationships is described. An analysis of the interviews showed that children turn out to be unique “experts” who are able, through a specially structured conversation, to talk about their feeling of life in kindergarten and their ideas for changing it. Children focus on the importance of playing with peers, the features of care practices (eating and sleeping), tactics of interaction between the educator and children, make their proposals for creating more comfortable conditions in kindergarten. The methodological experience gained has shown that the development of interviewing techniques for children is in line with the development of the interview method, and the collected data can become useful material for the modernization of preschool education.
Keywords: sociology of childhood; qualitative methods; gamification; preschoolers; interview game; Kindergarten; preschool education
- Filipova A. G., Rakitina N. E., Kupriashkina E. A. New research orientations in the sociology of childhood. Sotsiologicheskie issledovanija. 2018. No. 3. S. 86-93.
Resume: The article presents an overview of foreign and Russian studies of the geographical trend in the sociology of childhood. Ideas about the plurality of children's worlds, the position of child actors, etc., had a significant impact on its formation. The materials of the international scientific journal "Children's Geographies", published since 2003 ., as well as monographs and articles from other journals. Five main areas are identified - children's games and their places, children and the street, children's mobility, urban friendliness for children, childhood and space at the macrosocial level. Sociogeographic representations of childhood, along with research search, fulfill the task of bridging the gaps between the world of children and the world of adults. In Russian sociological practice, childhood is still being studied at the local level. In this regard, foreign studies can provide methodological and methodological guidelines for domestic scientists, provide empirical material for comparative studies.
Keywords: "new" sociology of childhood; geography of childhood; sociogeographic research direction
- Alanen L. M. The theory of intersections and other challenges of theorizing childhood. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya. 2018. No. 3. S. 94-97.
Resume: The author reflects on the possibility of applying the "intersection theory" to the study of childhood problems. An analogy is drawn with the use of this concept in feminist studies and the possibilities of its application in the sociology of childhood are discussed. The author refers to the position of J. Quartrup on the problem of the "theory of intersections" in relation to childhood. Such consideration will allow not only to describe the "many childhoods" - life worlds, identities and experiences, but also to conduct a causal analysis of modern childhood.
Keywords: sociology of childhood; intersection theory; postmodernism; feminism; methodology
Sociology of childhoodOne of the main achievements of childhood science in the late 1980s and 1990s was the emergence of the sociology of childhood. Of course, sociologists have always been interested in the problems of childhood, but most often they did this along with some other subjects, within the framework of the sociology of education or the sociology of the family. The "subjective" aspects and specific social difficulties of childhood often remained in the background.
The turning point in the creation of a new paradigm of childhood was the international project "Childhood as a social phenomenon" of the European Center for Social Policy, led by the Danish sociologist Jens Kvortrup. Instead of the usual "psychologization" of the world of childhood, this project focused on socio-economic, demographic and political problems: childhood as a socio-demographic group, its place in the social structure and structure of the population; the position of childhood in the system of relationships between generations; sociography of childhood (demographic statistics data on the dynamics of the child population); the position of children in the family; forms of children's activity - their employment, schoolwork, leisure as "planned spontaneity", etc.; distributive justice - how large and fair the share of the social product received by children is, how it is divided between different generations; the economics of childhood - what do children get from society and what is their own contribution to economic development; legal status of children; relations between the state, parents and children; dialectic of child protection and childhood autonomy. For example, the prohibition of child labor can be both a way to protect children and a way to discriminate against them, to deny their right to work. The same duality manifests itself in the legal regulation of child sexuality, when the protection of children from sexual exploitation by adults sometimes turns into a denial and suppression of the sexual feelings and needs of the child.
Sociological theory of childhood
New research questions brought to life a new theoretical reflection on childhood.
On the whole, however, Russian research on the sociology of childhood remains fragmented and atheoretical.
Childhood as a social phenomenon
The turning point in the creation of a new paradigm of childhood was the international project "Childhood as a social phenomenon" of the European Center for Social Policy, led by the Danish sociologist Jens Kvortrup. Instead of the usual "psychologization" of the world of childhood, this project focused on socio-economic, demographic and political problems: childhood as a socio-demographic group, its place in the social structure and structure of the population; the position of childhood in the system of relationships between generations; sociography of childhood (demographic statistics data on the dynamics of the child population); the position of children in the family; forms of children's activity - their employment, schoolwork, leisure as "planned spontaneity", etc.; distributive justice - how large and fair the share of the social product received by children is, how it is divided between different generations; the economics of childhood - what do children get from society and what is their own contribution to economic development; legal status of children; relations between the state, parents and children; dialectic of child protection and childhood autonomy. For example, the prohibition of child labor can be both a way to protect children and a way to discriminate against them, to deny their right to work. The same duality manifests itself in the legal regulation of child sexuality, when the protection of children from sexual exploitation by adults sometimes turns into a denial and suppression of the sexual feelings and needs of the child.
The program outlined by Quartrup was implemented in a series of detailed national reports describing the social situation of children in a number of countries (Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, USA and Yugoslavia). ), the results of which were summarized in a statistical compendium. This contributed to the further development and institutionalization of the sociology of childhood.
In 1998, within the framework of the International Sociological Association, a special Research Committee on the Sociology of Childhood was created, whose interests are closely intertwined with the work of the research committees on the sociology of education, family and youth, as well as UNICEF.
The European Commission includes data on the social status of children, the state of their education, health, etc. in their annual reports on the national family policy of European states in the form of special reports. Special international reports are devoted to the problems of child poverty, crime, death from accidents, etc. published by UNICEF. World Organization(WHO) regularly collects and publishes data on the health and development of children and adolescents. One of the leading interdisciplinary, but predominantly sociological, publications on childhood has been the "global journal of child research" Childhood, published since 1994. The word global has this case two values. Firstly, the magazine aims to overcome Eurocentrism and cover all countries and continents. Secondly, it is global in its subject matter, considering the world of childhood in the broadest sociocultural context, from psychology to architecture (for example, in what physical and symbolic space modern urban children live and develop and how this affects their behavior and psyche).
Sociological theory of childhood
New research questions brought to life a new theoretical reflection on childhood.
Unlike traditional psychological and pedagogical research, which is still methodologically tied to the biological paradigm of ontogenesis, the sociology of childhood considers it not as a natural given, but as a social construct, and children as accomplices (though not always full-fledged) of the social process, having their own view of the world, emphasizing that the children's view (more precisely, the views) require serious attention from adults. There are several specifically sociological paradigms in the study of childhood.
The first paradigm - considering childhood as a special "tribe" (tribal group), with its own special culture, language, playing traditions, etc., has its ideological origins in anthropology. The word "tribe" emphasizes that children's culture can be non-literate and contains many archaic elements that are incomprehensible to adults and nevertheless very significant.
The second paradigm is children as a social minority, similar to gender, racial, socio-economic and ethnic minorities. This paradigm makes childhood researchers particularly sensitive to issues of social inequality, power relations, and discrimination.
The third paradigm brings to the fore the problems of marking the social space of childhood as a recognized component of all social structures - where, how and in what particular status children participate in public life, how this affects the division of the life path, etc.
Finally, the fourth paradigm puts at the forefront the study of discourses that produce and modify the idea of a child and childhood: which properties of children are singled out and emphasized or, conversely, hushed up, and how this, in turn, affects the psychology of children and their relationships with children. adults.
Of course, none of these paradigms is self-sufficient, they are simply different angles of view on the same subject. General features of the modern sociological theory of childhood: 1) understanding of the child as a social subject and 2) understanding of the plurality of childhood and children's worlds. This brings to the fore the most acute social problems, such as child poverty, homelessness, crime, drug addiction, prostitution, etc., and the discussion of the causes of these phenomena is inextricably linked with the search for specific and effective methods social intervention.
At the same time, it is emphasized that the emphasis on assistance and social intervention does not mean turning the child into an object. Moreover, not only children who are disadvantaged at the macrosocial level need attention and help. "Other" children who require increased attention to themselves are constantly being created at the micro level, in the process of everyday development and communication with peers. "... The difference between" other "children from their peers is a fairly early (or formed by the family or completely individual, natural) property of realizing oneself" as another ", different from those accepted in the children's, and especially in the teenage team, manners, interests, values, habits etc." This makes the "sociological" perspective necessary anywhere and everywhere.
The sociology of childhood exists in Russia as well. First of all, these are state reports on the situation of children and programs based on them. Numerous non-governmental organizations also collect statistics. Since 1990, the Research Institute of Childhood of the Russian Children's Fund has been regularly publishing reports and research materials on the situation of children in Russia, the last such report was published in 2000. Unfortunately, both state and non-state statistics are not always reliable and are often used for unseemly political purposes. The social problems of childhood are studied within the framework of the sociology of the family, education, youth, and so on. Particular attention is paid to the most painful problems, such as social orphanhood, homelessness, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, and so on. Much work on the study of childhood in the context of the sociology of the family and education is carried out by the Russian Academy of Education. Interesting materials under the comprehensive social and psychological-pedagogical program "Protection of Childhood" publishes the magazine "World of Childhood", published by "Social Innovations" (since 2002). Since 1998, a course in the sociology of childhood has been taught at the Youth Institute. The textbook "Social Pedagogy" by A.V. Mudrik.
Much has been written about the social development of childhood by leading domestic psychologists, although psychological concepts are still weakly connected with specific social facts. A useful tool for the intellectual coordination of interdisciplinary research on childhood has become the Russian State Pedagogical University. A.I. Herzen annual international conference "Child in the modern world"; the last, ninth conference took place in 2002 and was devoted to the theme "Children and the City".
On the whole, however, Russian research on the sociology of childhood remains fragmented and atheoretical.
Directions of modern science. In Western sociology, it has existed for only three decades, and in Russia for no more than twenty years. Therefore, this training course and everyone who attends classes contributes to the formation of the Russian sociology of childhood, one might say, creates the history of the discipline.
Previously, only the opinion of adults was taken into account in sociology, while children were not taken into account. What happened in society, and why did the child's view of the world become the object of study? An unprecedented interest in childhood has given rise to large-scale research in this area. As part of the presented training course, the historical context of awareness in society of the value of childhood will be analyzed. In addition, the consequences of this process will be presented in detail from the standpoint of emerging contradictions:
increased care and control by parents
reducing physical punishment and using psychological manipulation
granting freedom of expression and severe restriction of "inconvenient" manifestations of children's activity
humanism and despotism
increasing parental attention and involving nannies, educators, children's experts in the process of education
individualization of children's life and the need for children to develop adequate social skills, etc.
Many researchers note fundamental changes in the ideals and norms that govern the behavior of the child compared to those during the childhood of his parents. Today's parents cannot use the experience of their upbringing as a model for raising children.
Child Game. Children's folklore, artistic creativity. Communicative behavior of children.
Topic 3. Historical dynamics of the roles of "child-parent".
Images of childhood in different historical periods. Images of childhood in literature and art. Theory of F. Aries. The evolution of the concept of childhood. History of school life. The place of children in the "old" and "modern" family.
The Psychohistory of Lloyd Demos. Modern research on the history of childhood (K. Haywood, K. Kelly, T. M. Smirnova, A. Yu. Rozhkov, O. E. Kosheleva, V. G. Bezrogova, A. Salnikova).
Topic 4. Socialization of the child in modern society.
The concepts of "socialization", "upbringing", "education". The main theories of socialization: determinism, constructivism and the "new" sociology of childhood.
Value-normative basis of society and styles of education. Alternative images of a newborn child in Western European culture and the corresponding principles of education (L. Stone). Dependence of the general style of socialization on the method of production of material goods (G. Barry, I. Child, M. Bacon).
The role of the main agents of socialization (family, kindergarten and school, peers, media) in shaping the personality of the child. The formation of a fully cultivated "mature" adult from a "raw" child.
Gender stratification. Features of the socialization of boys and girls. Feminist Research on Educational Practices. Mastering gender roles by children through toys, children's literature, choosing a partner of their gender for games.
Topic 5. From punishment to an open contract: new practices of education.
Contradictions of modern educational practices: freedom or dependence, care or control, humanism or violence? Selfless and reciprocal altruism (K. Jenks).
Normative-pedagogical principles and real educational practice. Normative expectations for children. New sociocultural opportunities for the child.
Individualization of childhood. The life of a child as a "biographical project" (W. Fuchs).
A typology of the modernization of children's lives according to the following criteria: 1) relations between parents and children; 2) "early biographization"; 3) individualization of the way of life (P. Buchner, G.-G. Kruger, M. Dubois-Reymond).
Topic 6. Parenthood as a sociocultural phenomenon.
Social portrait of a modern parent. The evolution of maternal feelings. Features of maternal and paternal roles, functions.
The role of experts in family socialization. Infantilization of adults in modern society. Peculiarities of raising a child in Russian society. The problem of domestic violence.
Social class determinants in parental attitudes, methods of influence.
Topic 7. Methodological and methodological principles of the study of childhood problems.
Features of the use of quantitative and qualitative methods in research on childhood problems. Projective methods. observation. biographical method. Content analysis. Experiment.
Sociology of childhood - a new science of childhood?
A special sociological theory of childhood is a theoretical construction that explains specific specific actions, processes in society in relation to childhood, studied with the help of special sociotechnics. Like other special theories, the sociology of childhood arose in a local area of social life and exists on the principles of equality with other special theories: the sociology of upbringing, education, family, youth, etc.
The sociology of childhood is characterized by:
1. Own theory about childhood, its changes and the relationship between the adult and children's worlds.
2. A special empirical direction in the development of the sociology of childhood is the constant conduct of concrete sociological research.
3. The sociology of childhood develops a system of its own concepts, for example, childhood is a children's subculture, the role of a "child", the status of childhood in society, etc.
4. In modern society, the circle of "consumers" of scientific knowledge about children is seriously expanding. If earlier this knowledge was necessary primarily for pedagogical workers, then in connection with the new realities, the leaders of numerous children's associations, workers social institutions, lawyers, employees of state structures (for example, youth policy committees), creators of children's mass media.
S.N. Shcheglova
Childhood is a set of objects, events, processes, social institutions and social practices in relation to children expressed in actions and language; this set is formed and maintained by society, and is also constantly renewed in the process of life of children who master sociality and integrate into society.
DI. Feldstein
Childhood is ... a special state of development in society and ... a generalized subject that holistically opposes the adult world and interacts with it at the level of subject-subject relations.
E.M. Rybinsky
Childhood can be viewed as a constant, renewable set of individuals who are at a special stage of the life cycle from birth to adulthood, and at the same time - as a dynamic social phenomenon, built on special social ties and relationships, the direction of which is determined by the gradual deployment of the position of the child as an object of education and at the same time as a subject. public life.
In the modern world, serious changes are taking place in the very object of its scientific knowledge - childhood, there is a social need for obtaining new knowledge about innovative phenomena of social reality (for example, about children's rights). The object of the sociology of childhood is defined not as an initially homogeneous group of individuals on their way to adulthood, but as a structural component of society that reflects social and cultural changes.
It is possible to outline the subject area of the sociology of childhood. The sociology of childhood is a special branch of sociology that studies childhood as a social entity, its functions in society, the interaction between society and childhood, and state policy in the interests of children. A separate section of this branch develops methodological and methodological principles for the study of children and adolescents. The subject of study is the specific roles of "child" and "adult", social norms and regulations that implement the respective roles, children's subculture. This industry also considers the characteristics of group behavior of a socio-demographic group childhood, patterns of development of children's communities (formal and informal).
The first works strictly devoted to the sociology of childhood were the book "Sociology of Childhood" by the American scientist J. Bossard, which appeared in 1948, as well as its revised and supplemented edition co-authored by E. Ball, published in 1966, and a textbook with the same name for Richie and Koller High School. In Russia, the first textbook was published only in 1996.
Gradually, there is a selection and formation within this industry of individual areas of research, today we are already seeing the emergence and development of such ones as the sociokinetics of childhood - the science of children's movement(E.V. Titova), sociology of children's subculture (I.A. Butenko, S.B. Borisov and others), sociology of children's reading.
There are a number of difficulties in the development of the sociology of childhood. Unfortunately, we cannot say that there is planning and coordination of scientific sociological and interdisciplinary studies of childhood in the country. The child continues to appear in many studies primarily as an object educational process in the family or at school. There is also no social order to study aspects of the consciousness of children and adolescents. Scientists and researchers dealing with children's problems are not united. That is why we attach great importance to the popularization of the methods of studying childhood, and we hope to involve non-professional researchers and young sociologists in this important work.
Literature
Buchner P., Kruger G.-G., Dubois M. "Modern child" in Western Europe // Socis.- 1996. N4.- P.128-135.
Rybinsky E.M. Childhood as a social phenomenon. - M.: DOM, 1998. - 108 p.
Feldstein D.I. Social development in the space-time of childhood.- M: Moscow Psychological and Social Institute / Flint, 1997.
Erickson E. Childhood and society.. - S.-Pb.: Lenato, AST, 1996.
Shcheglova S.N. Childhood: research methods. - M.: Sotsium, 1999.
Literature on sociological studies of children in Russia in the 20-30s of the twentieth century.
Gelmont A.M. The study of the children's moviegoer. - M., 1933.
Children and the October Revolution. The ideology of the Soviet schoolchild.-M., 1929.
Jordan N.N. Features of the life of schoolchildren. - M., 1925.
Peasant child.-M.-L., 1928.
Circle of ideas of the modern student. - M.-L., 1930.
Reeves S.M. Religiosity and anti-religiousness in the children's environment. - M., 1930.
Modern childhood: a sociological mosaic
How do children become adults?
The "borderline" transition from childhood to adulthood is accompanied by a number of radical bodily and mental changes, but the main one is the change that modifies the relationship of the maturing child with society and its institutions. This change is carried out with the uniformity of biological processes in a very different way in different socio-cultural conditions, but it is generally one of the universals of culture. The transition from childhood to adulthood is one of the most important constructed elements of childhood as an objective reality. Cultural universals - norms, values, rules, traditions and properties that are inherent in all cultures, regardless of geographical location, historical time and social structure of society.
In constructing the upper boundary of childhood, the state takes an active position, using the processes of legitimation of boundaries in the form of law. Today this limit is set either by a fixed age - 18 years old, or by biological puberty (from 14-15 years old). In our opinion, these characteristics do not exhaust the fullness of the process of transition from the status of a child to the status of young man. "When did you feel like an adult for the first time? Do you consider yourself an adult?" - such questions were asked to teenagers in the course of our research in 1996-1998.
Biographical events at the stage from the transition from childhood to youth are few in the present period (only one was named - obtaining a passport), and age, although important, is not decisive. Therefore, when self-identifying with the youth group, other factors became important.
An important role in constructing the boundaries of childhood belongs to individuals, including the child himself, the children's community. As our studies have shown, in determining the upper limits of modern childhood, personal individualized events and subcultural changes are of great importance. The transition depends on the type of parenthood, as well as on gender, settlement factors, on which social group this family belongs to.
It is in the personal, and not in the biographical, sphere of a child's life that there are such critical phases in which the changed status has a particularly strong influence on self-identification as a young adult. The most significant personal events are: sexual debut, relationships with parents and other significant adults, drinking alcohol, drugs, smoking. In the children's, and more precisely in the teenage environment, the last of the actions we mentioned are gradually accustomed.
The beginning of sexual activity, in our opinion, means an event in the transition to the stage of youth, and marriage - to maturity. We would like to note that there were differences in the verbal expression of this personal event in girls and boys. Girls, as a rule, used veiled expressions: "intimate life", "had sexual intercourse", young men more often used rude explanations "when I first fucked", "when I had a woman." It seems to us that this observed fact testifies to the persistence of stereotypes about the rules of behavior and about interests in sexual relations that are specific to persons of either sex. Despite a significant change in sexual behavior during youth, girls express a sense of restraint, undesirability and guilt, while boys express the expected activity and aggression from them. The study confirms that, despite the widespread occurrence of early sexual intercourse, they remain a personally important event on the path to youth.
Second large group responses - personal events in the family - also serves as an indicator of respondents' self-identification with the youth group.
The transition from childhood to adulthood is a spectrum of critical situations in relationships with parents. The presence of certain important events may depend on the type of parenthood:
With the autocratic type, apparently, such an event will primarily be an independent act of opposing the parent's dictate, for example, in the analyzed questionnaires: "when I began to fight with my parents for my life, freedom and the right to choose" (f, 17, Trade College, Moscow );
With a guardian, an event on the abolition of overprotection, for example, "when the parents left, she remained with the mistress" (f, 19, Institute of Youth, Moscow); "when they stopped checking the lessons and looking at the diary" (m, 15, school, MO);
With the careless type, apparently, significant events will be outside family situations, will be associated with other significant adults - "when I left home" (f, 16, vocational school, Moscow); “I started walking a lot, drinking and smoking, talking to people 14 years older than me.
Under democratic, an event associated with a new level of autonomy and responsibility, for example, "when they left me for 2 days of my younger brother"(m, 16, Moscow State University, Moscow).
Respondents often named various tragic events as important events of growing up: the death of relatives, especially grandparents, as well as others, which can be illustrated by the following extracts from the questionnaires: "when I was attacked in the entrance with an attempted rape, and I was able to figure it out myself and run away" (f, 16, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Moscow).
A personal event that is significant for fixing the transition to a youth group can also be the use of alcohol and drugs, smoking. On a verbal level, this is expressed by such descriptions: "when I came home drunk as a brat" (m, 16, gymnasium, Moscow), "when I started smoking, when I got drunk for the first time in a company" (m, 17, vocational school, Moscow).
Only young men also indicated the first independent trips on a bicycle, motorcycle, car. Only they mentioned fights and other forms of confrontation, possession of firearms and other weapons.
Extremely rarely, internal psychological changes are noted - "when I began to think rationally" (f, 16, school, Moscow) - or responsible independent actions - "I prepared for exams myself and successfully passed" (m, 14, school, Moscow).
The transition from childhood to youth can be clearly defined in a subcultural context. In the language of children, this shift can be recorded in the form of an expressed or hidden demand for a new address: instead of "girl" - "girl", instead of "boy" - "boy". This is initiated by those adolescents who want to emphasize their belonging to a given age and symbolic group, this is how a "watershed" is drawn with other groups. From our own experience, we have seen that in the questionnaires of children, both of these designations must be included in the question about gender, otherwise teenagers independently add these words or react negatively (orally or in writing) to the “lowering” of their status. In the study we have already mentioned, some of the respondents indicated that for the first time they felt like adults when someone began to address them as “you”.
In our opinion, the subculture undergoes the following changes when they move from one age category to another. characteristic feature children's subculture, unlike teenage, youth, is that the main cultural values of the children's subculture are passed on from generation to generation of peers orally, the carrier of these values is often exclusively the children's community. Elements of the youth subculture are recorded in latent or open forms (diaries, songbooks, youth newspapers and magazines), often its influence extends to the adult community. Children's folklore in the form of counting rhymes, teasers, children's anecdotes, scenes changes to teenage folklore of "black humor" and "happy girls", games acquire an erotic-sexual coloring.
The youth subculture is strongly focused on external attributes. Cultivated special forms of communication, characteristic differences in clothing, hairstyles. Special material evidence of this subculture appears: teenagers' rooms; albums and diaries; clothes, shoes and accessories for them (for example, "baubles" - ropes woven from multi-colored threads on the arm), graffiti. These material evidences acquire a special semantic meaning; they act as signs of belonging to a youth group and/or symbols of relations within this group.
Adolescent and youth communities are a kind of indicators of the transition from childhood to youth, because children do not form such stable formations, they have only temporary groups created for games and entertainment.
Among the sociocultural indicators of the transition, we can also include the cults of popular figures - idols that arise in adolescence, with or without the formation of special communities of fans.
So, the most important subcultural changes at the border of childhood and adulthood include: the emergence of relatively stable adolescent and youth communities, the emergence of special forms of sociocultural invariants in language and material evidence, the formation of cults of popular figures.
At present, there are no culturally prepared paths in Russia, such as initiation rites for children, which once facilitated and accelerated entry into the world of young adults. If there are still some rituals for young people and adults (wedding, graduation, etc.), then there are practically no such celebrations and actions for children. The rituals of admission to the Octobrists, pioneers, to the Komsomol, for all their ideologized orientation, were symbolic indicators for children of their growing up, and the latter - joining the Komsomol - in many cases directly stated the transition of the child to a new social group. In this situation, the first glass, cigarette, sexual debut in many cases replace the official rites of initiation.
Survey methods of research: general approaches
Questioning methods include questionnaires, interviews, the technique of unfinished sentences, and a number of others that will be discussed in this section.
Questionnaire- a type of sociological research using questionnaires in order to clarify socio-demographic data, facts of life, opinions, social attitudes, value orientations, etc. Interviewing- a method of obtaining social information using an oral survey.
What unites these methods is that the guys are invited to answer questions. The questionnaire is a set of questions logically related to the purpose and objectives of the study itself. Compiling a questionnaire is always a complex and time-consuming procedure.
To conduct an interview, a special toolkit is prepared - a form, the answers of the respondent are immediately recorded (immediately or after decoding the recording of the conversation). There are two main types of interviews: free and standardized, similar in form to a questionnaire with closed questions. The child-respondent, acting as an object, knows in advance about his participation in them and the need to interact with the researcher when conducting survey methods.
How to ask a question? Poll language problem
In order to obtain reliable complete information with the help of a questionnaire or interview, the following approaches to its construction and to the formulation of questions must be observed.
The practice of sociological research has shown that the questions of the spoken language and the questionnaire are of a different nature. In colloquial language, the question is addressed only to an individual, to one person, while in a sociological questionnaire, the conversation is with many respondents.
The researcher cannot take into account all the personal characteristics of the respondents-children and the conditions that arise during the survey. This poses a very difficult task of unifying the sociological question. It should be built in such a way as to be understandable to everyone without exception. Questions should not make unbearable demands on children, their memory and analytical capabilities.
When posing a question, it is necessary to be sure of an adequate (correct, accurate) understanding by all respondents of the words, terms and concepts used in it. So, including in the questionnaire such socio-political vocabulary as reforms, social system, rights, duties, etc., it is necessary to make sure that these concepts are familiar to children. To do this, it is possible to check whether these concepts were studied in the classroom in the subjects of the school curriculum, whether they are found in the materials of the children's press, in letters, essays, and conversations of the children themselves.
Observations of teachers-practitioners of the language of children will help to determine which words require clarification and clarification. It may be useful in this case to refer to specialized publications.
In our practice, we have encountered many times with the use of well-known words by children in an unusual sense. For example, the word "administration" is understood by young children not as an organ, but as a specific building. A multi-millionaire is someone who has made his fortune in the production of cartoons. And the President, according to first graders, happens to all living beings: "A pack of stray dogs lives there, and Sharik is their president!" When conducting a study of the influence of advertising on younger schoolchildren, we noted an inadequate understanding of the word "irritating" for an adult. Question: "What irritates you in advertising?" - remained unanswered in a number of cases, the children perceived this word only in the meaning of physical impact - skin irritation, they wrote that irritation happens on chocolate, strawberries, etc. If an inaccurate understanding of a term or word is found, its mandatory replacement is required. Otherwise, it cannot be guaranteed that a valid response will be received.
It is important not only to choose words understandable to children, but also to take them into account. age features perception of certain topics. Young children do not like questions about marriage or marriage, they are embarrassed. Sociologists are replacing expressions with the more neutral phrase "create a family", and the kids give answers willingly. We note the usefulness of conducting a trial (pilot) study with a small group, which will reveal all the language inaccuracies, the difficulty of children's perception of the proposed texts.
But even knowing for sure that children understand a given word, it is necessary, during an examination or a pilot study, to make sure that its meaning in a given situation is perceived by them in the same way as by adult researchers. So, in one of the questionnaires during the study in the 60s "Interests and free time adolescents" the question was posed: "If you were offered to participate in the Zarnitsa game, then who would you like to be?" And the answer options were: a commander, a simple participant soldier, an observer. Most of the children answered: to draw a conclusion about the desire of the majority to only passively contemplate the spectacle, about the rejection of this form of activity.However, as it turned out, the children called the observer a scout, a spy, i.e. an extremely active and attractive person in this game.
Younger students do not understand the expressions "usually", "most often". "Pocket money" - this phrase seems to adults to be perceived by children as simple, they believe that this is what parents give to children for personal needs. It turned out that in the children's view, these are all amounts of money, regardless of the source of their receipt.
Question: "Do you always have enough money to buy the thing you like?" - a construction that is difficult for children, since it assumes that children must remember, calculate, and present their needs. In this case, the question requires a special explanation or reformulation of it into several consecutive questions. The question should not contain excessive demands on the memory, attention or level of thinking of the child, you must always keep in mind the psychological characteristics of each age group, which we talked about in the previous section.
It happens that children are involved in the study of different nationalities, republics of Russia or CIS countries. We believe that a survey of children using questionnaires in their native, national language contributes to obtaining qualitatively complete information.
When formulating the questions of the questionnaire about the facts of behavior and about the personality of the respondent in relation to children, it is necessary to take into account that communication through the questionnaire for a teenager is interpersonal in nature, and the child perceives each question as individually asked to him. He is not able to transform the content of the question in relation to himself. Therefore, questions sometimes require expansion, explanation, addition. It is desirable to formulate questions in a personal form with an appeal to "you". When the questionnaire includes questions with the appeal "You", for example, "What do you like to do most of all in your free time after school?", Some children believe that they are being asked in general about all the guys of this age and do not tell about themselves personally. Emphasis on the field of respondents can be made by designating the grammatical category of gender ("Who would you like to be like (s)? What do you think it means to live well when you become an adult (s)?").
When formulating questions, it is also recommended to take into account such age characteristics of children as suggestibility, orientation towards social desirability (the opinion of elders, the opinion of significant adult parents and peers). Therefore, it is considered extremely important to make the questionnaire in such a way that the questions do not inspire the respondents with ideas about the “necessary”, expected or uncomfortable, bad answers and do not contain direct or indirect prompts. Otherwise, the guys have a desire to give a good, correct answer so that adults are satisfied. In our experience there was a clear case of such an influence. To the question of the questionnaire: "Do you do exercises in the morning?" - followed by much more positive answers than when processing the question: "What do you usually do in the morning?" - with one of the options "I'm doing exercises." Obviously, in the first case, adolescents had a desire to give a good, correct answer, so that, first of all, adults would be satisfied with them.
The structure of the questionnaire, interview form
Not only all questions of the questionnaire, but also the introduction, reference to the filler, instructions on the technique of filling out the questionnaire should be written in a clear, intelligible, simple and understandable language for everyone. State in the appeal not only the topic, goals and objectives of the survey, but also the method of processing the questionnaires, indicating the possibility of later finding out the results in the children's press. In order to encourage teens to have a really frank conversation, the appeal focused on the anonymity of the survey, and also introduced the research team that developed this questionnaire. Aim teenagers for an interested and confidential conversation, emphasize the importance and responsibility of conducting research.
Since most children for the first time not only answer the questions of the questionnaire, but also simply see the questionnaires, we consider it possible to place the socio-demographic block at the beginning of the questionnaire, contrary to the recommendations for placing it at the end of the questionnaire, which you may encounter in textbooks on sociology.
In addition, the experience of conducting the study showed that there are not enough instructions for filling out the questionnaire for children. In order to explain to each young respondent the procedure for determining and marking the required code, the questionnaire may invite children to fill in the first questions together about gender, age, place of residence, and nationality. Thus, children are taught how to fill out questionnaires. On the other hand, since the survey usually takes place in one room, the questionnaire itself has the opportunity to follow the correct filling of the socio-demographic block, correct involuntary errors and inaccuracies. In addition, this will help to significantly reduce the processing time of questionnaires in the socio-demographic part.
Questions of the questionnaire are preferably combined into blocks according to thematic and problematic principles. "The world that surrounds us", "Your attitude towards people, friends", "Your interests", etc. More complex questions that require activation of thought processes and analysis are located in the middle of the questionnaire. Taking into account the peculiarities of the psychology of adolescents, we recommend using not only introductory explanations, but also specially selected drawings as a kind of "switches" of attention. Thus, the question of an ideal, a role model was accompanied by a portrait of a boy looking in the mirror and seeing there someone he would very much like to resemble: an astronaut, an athlete, etc.
If the questionnaire is large and takes more than 30 minutes to complete, in the middle of the work, respondents may be asked to take a break, relax, look at funny drawings or draw something themselves. Our observations testify to the positive impact of illustrations on adolescent respondents. Pictures explain the content of the questions, switch the attention of the respondent to a new topic, reduce monotony, and reduce the psychological burden.
When compiling questionnaires, it is necessary to take into account the ratio of open and closed questions, direct and indirect, main and control. Due to the fact that children, as mentioned above, belong to the group of respondents with a low level of sincerity, it is useful to include control and duplicate questions in the questionnaire. So, after the question of whether the respondent reads a lot, you should be asked to name what he or she is reading now. An opinion about the traits and properties of character that attract or dislike in peers is tested using the control question: "What qualities do you value in a friend or girlfriend?"
You should think over and offer the guys several answers, strive so that together they make up a complete and sensitive scale. So, to answer the question about the proposed activities in free time, a scale of 40 positions, determined in the course of a pilot study, can be compiled. When preparing the questionnaire and developing scales with answer options, we advise you to spare neither space nor time for funny expressions. Often they do not carry useful information, but the guys will undoubtedly like it, the respondents will be better disposed towards the researcher, which means that success will be ensured.
Given the age tendency of adolescents (especially teenagers) to negativism, Special attention should be given to the symmetry of the location of the positions of the scales. The number of positions with a positive value should not be less than the number of positions with a negative value; positions with neutral or zero values must be placed between them.
Survey procedure
When conducting a survey, it is necessary to make every effort to create a favorable, comfortable psychological state of the respondents. It is necessary to exclude fear for the consequences of the survey and unpleasant, negative emotional states. As a reward for participation in research of children (especially younger adolescence) calendars, pictures, stickers with plots from popular cartoons can be used.
The reliability of the information received, the sincerity of the respondents in our case depend largely on the personality of the questionnaire. There are several options for respondents to "avoid" a sincere, frank answer:
- "social desirability" - the respondent's strategy to give answers that seem more attractive to him, representing him in a favorable light;
- "conformity" - a strategy to give those answers that correspond to generally accepted ones, the desire to "be like everyone else", not to stand out;
- "negativism" - a strategy to give answers that are opposite to accepted social norms, characterizing a teenager in a more unfavorable light than it actually is.
An exceptionally acute manifestation of negativism is the regression of behavior. In these cases, the child aloud negatively assesses the questionnaire or individual questions, crosses out or tears the sheets of the questionnaire, writes obscene expressions and draws signs, symbols of obscene content.
As the experience of conducting research has shown, in the case when the questionnaires are a teacher, an administrative worker of the school or parents, adolescents, when answering specific questions about school life, their own behavior and the behavior of their peers, about relationships with parents, "go" into "social desirability" or "conformity". A neutral situation, which, in our opinion, contributed to an increase in the reliability and reliability of the results, was created only in the case of conducting a survey by a new adult for the children, who stipulated and created special conditions to maintain the anonymity of the survey.
Both filling out the questionnaire and the interview should not last too long. We recommend no more than thirty minutes. If there is a need for a longer conversation, then drawings, games and humor should come to the rescue.
At the end of the survey or interview, the researcher should thank for the answers, as the guys spent their time and mental strength. It is unacceptable to give your assessments to the expressed opinion of children.
Along with obtaining reliable information, methods for evaluating the results obtained during processing are no less important. For this purpose, an analysis of answers to control and duplicate questions, an analysis of the patterns of answers and logical contrasts is carried out. Comparison of the obtained data with quantitative statistical data, information from departments (for example, educational authorities), comparison of the results of various studies conducted in the country and abroad, compilation of time series of comparable studies for several years is used. In order to increase the reliability of the information received, special surveys of the parents of the respondent children and experts - those who work with adolescents at school and outside it, can be organized.
We now turn to the story of some specific survey methods.
Express Questionnaire
To study the opinions of children on certain issues of life, operational express surveys can be conducted, consisting of questions to which only three alternative answers can be given. Let us give an example of such a questionnaire (compiled, by the way, with the participation of young sociologists) and explain the technology for conducting such a questionnaire.
EXPRESS QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Do you have secrets from your parents?
2. Do you have your own room?
3. Do you smoke?
4. Do you sometimes feel like you don't want to go home?
5. Do you want to get into the Guinness Book of Records?
6. Do you know who your great-grandfather and great-grandmother were?
7. Do the teachers in your school have favorites?
8. Do your parents keep secrets from you?
9. Do you give up your seat to old people in public transport?
10. Would you like to live in another country, not in Russia?
To conduct the survey, it is necessary that each respondent has a pen or pencil, a piece of paper (half of a notebook sheet is enough). The numbers from 1 to 10 are put on the left side of the sheet, which indicate the serial numbers of the questions. The guys can give only three answers to these questions, they are invited to write their answers not in words, but in signs: yes- +; No- - ; don't know, can't answer - 0.
Questions are read out quickly enough to exclude the possibility of discussion, prompts. Adolescents fill out a similar questionnaire within 7 minutes. After answering the questions, each respondent marks his gender with a letter: M (boy) or D (girl), a number, age or class.
Time budget
Time budget is a method of measuring the time spent by interviewees. Using this method, you can find out how much time children spend on homework, communication with parents, active games, sports, entertainment, household chores and much more.
Please note that only children starting from the age of 10-11 years old become capable of independent accounting of their time budget. Students of this age can "work" as unusual photographers and take "photos" of their ordinary days. To do this, they must start small notebooks, where every morning they write down data about the day they lived.
Think about how you spent yesterday.
Time from...to...
What did I do)
I liked it or not + or -
After reviewing all the profiles of children, you need to add up the time spent by them, for example, on the road to school or reading books, then determine the arithmetic mean.
Accounting for the time budget of younger children should be kept either by adults or by children on a limited task, for example, fixing only the time of watching TV, studying on the computer, walking or doing homework.
Children's compositions
A special form of methodology in conducting surveys of adolescents is an essay. It can be classified as a detailed, informal response to a questionnaire containing only one question. In terms of content and informativeness, the essay is no less interesting than the questionnaire. Writing essays as a very well-known type of work for a student does not cause him any difficulties and does not require specific skills. Children's essays and notes can serve as an excellent tool for studying the environment, children's life and activities outside the school and clarifying the attitude of children to a number of life phenomena of our time and identifying those factors under the influence of which a child's worldview is formed.
Modern practice confirms: essays for schoolchildren are a familiar type of work, the main thing that the guys worry about in this case is their spelling mistakes. In this case, the researcher should tell them that everyone's thoughts are important, that this essay is not a test of knowledge and they will not be given marks. The sociological service of the school can offer young respondents the following topics: "What will our sports school, our city be like in 10 years?", "If you found / found Aladdin's magic lamp, what would you ask Genie?", "What can you imagine your future family?", "My company", "What will my children learn?" and many others.
Literature
Kharchenko V.K., Goleva N.M. Chebotareva I.M. Paradoxes of children's speech. - Belgorod: Publishing House of the Belgorod State Pedagogical University, 1995.
Shcheglova S.N. Answers for which they do not put marks. - M .: Yunpress, 1995.
Questions for self-control
1. Complete the following table
2. List the main survey methods for studying children, evaluate their advantages and disadvantages.
Tasks for group work
1. Critically analyze the questionnaire designed for surveys of adolescents. What errors and inaccuracies did you notice in it? What corrections and additions would you make to this questionnaire?
Insert an information form
How to get reliable information on complex topics?
Very often, it is required to study closed topics, talking about which openly is considered dangerous, shameful, offensive. How to proceed in such a case? We have found several tricks to help solve the problem of obtaining reliable information on these topics.
When compiling a questionnaire in matters relating to the characteristics of relationships between adolescents, their lifestyle and leisure activities for young people, we advise you to use specific jargon. So, in questions about what you like and don't like in your peers, you can include the expression "girls run after boys", in the question: "Where do you get pocket money from?" - let one of the answers sound like this: "I have my own business"; in the question: “Who would you like to be like (s)?” - the names of youth informal associations are indicated: hippies, punks, metalheads, rockers, rollers, etc. Show that you are familiar with different aspects of adolescent life, understand their significance for this age, are interested in what excites them.
Asking guys of this age direct questions "on the forehead" about the specific aspects of the lifestyle of adolescents, especially those negatively assessed by society (for example, the sexual life of young people, drugs, and the like), we doom ourselves to receive distorted information in advance. That is why the technique of incomplete sentences is more suitable in such cases.
This technique is one of the projective procedures and is traditionally used in psychodiagnostics to study expectations, emotional subjective experiences, and personal perception. At the core projective methods lies the concept of K. Jung about the possibility of causing a person as a result of indirect influences, including in verbal (verbal) form, a spontaneous reaction expressing areas of behavior and experiences that are significant for a person, but not always realized by him. When using these techniques in sociology, researchers focus on highlighting the social rather than personal context, and also use them to study the norms, stereotypes, neoplasms of people's social behavior.
Let us emphasize the need to observe the "secret" of the research task for the students themselves, because the main feature of this technique should be the uncertainty of the stimulus. This technique has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the ease of obtaining data, a wide range of recorded information, and the absence of the influence of preliminary hypotheses, which is usually observed as a result of the presentation of possible answers to respondents. However, the process of processing the methodology of unfinished sentences is laborious, it cannot be standardized. Difficulties include also the complexity of the multi-valued understanding of everyday children's language, which often makes it difficult to identify the true personal meaning of the statement. And yet, the advantages of using this technique for this age group are undoubtedly greater. Let us give an example of such a technique, which we used to study the problems of childhood.
It's dangerous outside because...
I go alone (alone) without parents (where?) ...
An analysis of the continuation answers showed that the street is a source of danger for children, only 1% of respondents believe that the street is not dangerous, 5.7% find it difficult to answer this question. Most of all, children are worried about the criminogenic situation on the streets of the city - 41.3%, children are afraid of murderers, criminals, rapists, thieves, drunkards, drug addicts. The difficult transport situation worries 39% of respondents. Darkness, natural disasters, bad company, dogs - all this is associated in children with the street and is distinguished by them as a real danger.
The survey can be conducted in a group, in writing. To conduct the survey, it is necessary that everyone has a blank piece of paper and a pen. It is desirable to have a board. The respondents are read and written on the board stimulus sentences, or rather the beginning of sentences, and are invited to complete the continuation of these phrases themselves. Stimulus sentences should be vague so as not to pre-program unambiguous responses, on the other hand, each such sentence contains a keyword that limits the response space. For example, in the sentence: "It's dangerous on the street because..." - such a key word is "because", because it forces the child respondents to explain the reasons for feeling the danger of the street, and also cuts off other possible criteria for assessing the danger, for example, temporary - "at night, in the evening, when it got dark, etc." No more than 1 minute is given for each addition. Proposals are read and written only in order, not all at once.
After receiving all the sheets, it is necessary to process them. To do this, you need to write down the beginning of the sentence, and then all possible continuations, when repeating, indicate the number of such answers. If necessary, the data are calculated as a percentage or the rank is determined - the place of the answer options by the frequency of their mention.
In addition to using the methods described above, we consider it very effective to involve children themselves in the development of methods for studying the child and in conducting research in this area. In this case, in our opinion, material can be obtained that most adequately reflects the actual state of affairs. We are convinced that this brings an interesting, fruitful result.
No one can know their peers better than children, so they often offer topics and questions for study that adult sociologists and psychologists pass by. Children-experts can help with the choice of speech turns, adaptation of interview texts, with an explanation of the answers received.
In accordance with this idea, the children themselves provided us with assistance in preparing the toolkit for the project "Implementation of the rights of the child in the Russian Federation: a sociological analysis". At our request, the young assistants prepared their own reasoning-essays on this topic. They proposed the questions that most worried them, and together with the researcher made a selection of expressions, terms that are understandable to children and do not cause them any difficulties.
The texts themselves, compiled by our assistants, can be considered as an object of study, we carried out such work with great success.
In a number of studies of the 1990s, attempts were also made to involve children as interviewers and questionnaires for a teenage group of respondents, with whom it is most difficult for an adult sociologist to establish contact. The results of such studies are striking. The guys are much more frank with young sociologists. More than 40% of adolescents confidedly told their peers who conducted the survey that they were subjected to physical punishment at home. Boys aged 10-11 are especially punished, among them almost two-thirds answered yes to this question, more than half of the girls are punished in families. It should be noted that the analysis of answers to the same question in the described survey, conducted by adult professional sociologists, gives a different distribution of answers.
Only 12.2% stated definitely that they are being punished at home, another 9.0% marked the option "I can't say". The last answers can also be classified as affirmative. However, even in this case, the answers differ by almost 2 times. As well as in the survey of young researchers, we recorded that boys are punished almost twice as often as girls.
Diagram
We argue that more sincere information on this issue was obtained by young researchers. Evidence of this is the data of a survey of parents. 3.1% of parents admitted that they punish their children, a definite answer is "yes". "Yes, sometimes" was answered by 34.6% of respondents, and fathers, on average, are 5% less likely to punish children than mothers, according to them. In a questionnaire survey conducted by an adult sociologist, children could have the following motives for lying: a desire not to create an awkward situation; avoidance of shame; protection of personal life, protection of one's privacy.