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Authors: Katrine Weiland Willaa
Keywords: Research, Children, emotions, Hochschild
Abstract: This paper investigates what “researching in emotions”, can bring to the discussion about subjectification of children of today. It has become a central topic in my ongoing Ph.D. study, where I explore children’s everyday life in the transition between kindergarten and school. Through my empirical work doing interviews and participatory observations, children’s feelings play a still more central part, when I try to understand what is going on in their everyday life. As other child-researchers have also noted (ex; Listening with all senses, Morris 2003).
Theoretically, one of my inspirations is A. Hochschild, and her concept of “feeling rules”. Her theory is, that individuals manage their feelings, in attempt to make the feelings acceptable according to cultural standards. They are influenced by society’s norms and culture, which means that they vary from society to society. I would like to discuss how these “feeling rules” subjectifies the children in a certain way, and the ways in which their feelings are culturally regulated, in order to understand the societal conditions, and their influence on the well-being of the children. For example, the culture in the kindergarten’s is influenced by a high demand for children to learn academic, social and personal skills. Skills, that will increase productivity, and be good for society in the future. In relation to this, I would like to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using the concept “feeling rules” when trying to grasp the emotional aspects of children’s everyday life.