ABSTRACT
In this article Mackay provides a new perspective for looking at children, based on recognition of an adult perspective as one way rather than the only way to do so. He begins by offering fundamental criticism of the concept of socialization, casting doubt on its very validity. He suggests that ‘socialization’ is an adult formulation or creation based on the taken-for-granted assumption that adults are knowledgeable and competent actors in the social world while children are incomplete, incompetent, and lack knowledge. He argues that by focusing on socialization, researchers and theorists have failed to notice the rich and varied interactions that take place between adults and children as equally social beings. Similar criticisms might also be directed to the more psychological formulations of child development, which tend to embody an implicit notion of adult superiority.
