ABSTRACT
Tajfel (1978) places the origins of social identities in the social group. A social identity is an individual’s concept of him or herself as a member of a social group and the value and emotional significance attached to that membership. Though Tajfel does not describe the development of social identities, his concept is a helpful starting point in addressing this issue. This chapter explores the role played by symbolic group-play in the formation of children’s social identities. Symbolic group-play, in day care, takes place among peers who share a history, form relationships, and develop social aspirations towards one another. In these relationships, social identifying processes are psychologically active and highly visible in actions, communications, negotiations and subjective experiences (Duveen, 2001). Identities developed in play shape expectation patterns that guide behaviours and influence self and other concepts in emotionally significant and personally relevant ways. This is consequential to how children participate in shared activities and how they form relationships – it contrasts highly with the idea that playing is mostly fun, pleasurable, pretending, and also as a kind of sacred activity freed from immediate real-life consequences (Groos, 1976; Piaget, 1976; Garvey, 1977; Cohen, 1987; Singer & Singer, 1990; Vandenberg, 2005).
