ABSTRACT
In the past, socialisation theory told us that children were discrete individuals who learnt social behaviours, including gender interactions, as a result of outside forces impacting on them. Children were seen not as an integral part of this process, but as individuals absorbing appropriate stances to be used in social settings. Davies (1989) notes that one of the problems with socialisation theories is that ‘they obscure our recognition of the complex and contradictory ways in which we are constantly constituting ourselves in the social world in which we live’ (p. 6). More recent work has suggested that children constitute and structure a gender position in response to the discourses within which they participate, and this position is dynamic with the child taking an active part in discursive practices. In this context, enculturation is an ongoing process through which children construct a reality that is meaningful to them within the many contexts they are exposed to. Children are enculturated through interaction in their homes with families, interaction in their schools with educators and peers, through the variety of media they are exposed to, and through community interaction. Observation of any early childhood centre will show children practising gender positioning, and these positions will be
easily recognised as those from the wider context of society and our particular culture.
