5 - State, standardisation and ‘normal’ children: an anthropological study of a preschool

Summary

In this article, I examine the interrelation between the organisational features of Japanese preschools and the ways by which they are predicated on notions of ‘normal’ (and normalising) development of children. Based on an in-depth study of one such preschool – Katsura Daycare Centre (Hoikuen) in Kyoto – and short visits to a number of other institutions, my article represents an attempt to theorise the organisational character of such preschools. In my earlier work (Ben-Ari 1994; 1995; 1997b) I have suggested that most previous studies of such establishments – kindergartens and daycare centres – tends to see through, rather than look at, the organisational character of such institutions. Consequently, most such studies have tended to focus on the experience of children or on the care proffered them. Thus earlier inquiries such as those carried out by Hendry (1986a; 1986b), Lewis (1989; 1995), Peak (1989; 1991), Tobin (Tobin et al. 1989) – as well as some of my own projects (Ben-Ari 1996; 1997a) – have basically inquired about the kind of socialisation that youngsters undergo in preschools. Here, however, I propose a shift of focus to ask about preschools as institutional structures. This shift allows us to see how patterns of organisation are related to the ways that children are socialised according to a rather uniform set of assumptions and ideas.