Demokrati som möjlighet i små barns liv och verksamhet

Abstract

Title: Democracy as a possibility in young children’s life and activities

Abstract: In this article influence and partaking in decisions as fundamental preconditions for young children’s democratic possibilities and development are questioned. In a cultural democratic view, which is here proposed, other conditions may be more important, such as having to do with creative activities and ways to express oneself in various modes. Examples are given from daily life in and around preschool, to illustrate the reasoning of how democracy may grow and be expressed by young children, in terms of affordances, meaning making and room for action. Problems as well as possibilities are in the end a question of whose control and power will be most decisive in preschool daily life. However, it is also a question of respect. How active and autonomous may children be allowed to become?