ABSTRACT

This article aims to understand how children in a superdiverse Western European city actively negotiate their social position. Based on in-depth interviews with children aged 11–13, we highlight how a diverse group of children give meaning to social inequality and assess how they position themselves towards different socio-economic groups. We argue that children not only show an acute awareness of social differences but also engage in symbolic boundary-making to secure a positive self-identity. We analyse how children describe the ‘middle-class’ according to their own position, to present themselves as neither rich nor poor but as ‘normal’ or ‘ordinary’. However, as the children’s narratives reveal very different life chances, they use different identity management strategies to construct their own ‘ordinariness’.

摘要

本文旨在了解一个超级多元化的西欧城市的儿童如何积极协商他们的社会地位。基于对 11-13 岁儿童的深入访谈，我们重点介绍了多元化的儿童群体如何赋予社会不平等以意义，并评估他们如何将自己定位于不同的社会经济群体。我们认为，儿童不仅表现出对社会差异的敏锐意识，而且还参与象征性的边界制定以确保积极的自我认同。我们分析了孩子们如何根据自己的立场来描述“中产阶级”，将自己表现得既不富也不穷，而是“正常”或“普通”。然而，由于孩子们的叙述揭示了截然不同的人生机会，他们使用不同的身份管理策略来构建自己的“平凡”。