ABSTRACT
Children in groups, in pairs, alone, working, playing, talking, laughing, fighting, and displaying a kaleidoscope of emotions. A theoretical perspective that is adequate has to be of sufficient scope and sensitivity to respond to the full range and complexity of children's culture. The construction and assertion of gender identities was one of the most pervasive social processes of the children's cultures. Their assertion of a particular version of male identity was accomplished through acts of verbal dominance, but not through the use of specifically sexist terms. The black children that we talked to described racialised social interaction almost exclusively in terms of racist name-calling and related remarks. In general, the black children found racist name-calling more hurtful than any other kind of name-calling. For many of the black children, their experiences of racist name-calling in school were one element of a wider experience of racism in their lives.
