‘Pretend I was Mummy’: Children's Production of Authority and Subordinance in their Pretend Play Interaction during Disputes

Abstract

Value of paper – Examining play as a social practice provides insight into the social worlds of children. The analysis shows how the children draw upon and co-construct family-style relationships in a pretend play context, in ways that enable them to build and organize peer interaction. Authority is highlighted as a joint accomplishment that is part of the social and moral order continuously being negotiated by the children. The authority of the mother category is produced and oriented to as a means of managing the disputes within the pretend frame of play.

Citation

Cobb-Moore, C. (2012), "‘Pretend I was Mummy’: Children's Production of Authority and Subordinance in their Pretend Play Interaction during Disputes", Danby, S. and Theobald, M. (Ed.) Disputes in Everyday Life: Social and Moral Orders of Children and Young People (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 85-118. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-4661(2012)0000015008

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