Friendship By Junei Ahn Summary

In recent years, the focus of childhood has begun to shift from an adult-centric view on childhood to a child-centered view. Instead of relying only upon the interviews of adults about children within the community, anthropologist have started to observe and “interview” children about their thoughts and how they view themselves and the world they live in. Many researchers saw children as being passive acceptors of culture and societal norms. However, with this shift, they are beginning to realize that children are cultural agents, taking and manipulating what is taught to them (actively and/or passively) and applying it to their own social world. Junehui Ahn explores this notion in the context of friendships and how children mold the ideas …show more content…
The interviews were conducted in this manner to avoid the adult perspective and bias that the parents/caregivers may present with the interactions among the children. Ahn mentions that the primary goal of middle-class socialization in the United States, based upon research, is “raising a child who is nice, friendly, polite, and able to understand and empathize with others’ feelings” (citation). This goal was obvious when teaching children the meaning of friendship by forming activities around the concepts of inclusion and niceness. Ahn shows that teachers promote the idealized concept of friendship where “everyone is friends and kind to one another”, using conflict resolution as an example of a teaching tool that is used. In one example, two boys are playing in a dramatic play area set up. One boy, Steven, gets close to the other boy’s, Garret, face asking to use a light. Garret refuses the request angrily and the teacher steps in. Miss Bailey explains that Garret should share with Steven and that Steven must be polite to his friends. Steven’s invasion of space and Garret’s refusal to share were both breaches to the