The ignored citizen: Young children’s subjectivities in Swedish and English early childhood education settings

Abstract

This article looks at examples of young children acting as citizens and aims to illuminate these by utilising Biesta’s exposition of subjectification and socialisation conceptions of citizenship. Specifically, the article applies the concepts of ‘dissensus’, taken from Rancière’s work; ‘agonism’, taken from Mouffe’s work; and solidarity from Levinas’ work to actual ‘scenes’ from Swedish and English early childhood education settings. It also discusses these in relation to other contemporary work on concepts of children’s citizenship and our own theories of young children’s play.