KNOWING THE RULES - DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES IN YOUNG CHILDRENS POWER STRUGGLES

''Rule-following'' has been established as a stage in children's moral development and in their play, although certain scholars have noted that children both respond to and resist adult-imposed rules. Findings of observational research presented in this article suggest that rules are also invoked strategically by children to exercise power over others or preserve their own autonomy in institutional settings where physical violence is forbidden. Rules can thus be conceptualized as powerful ''knowledge'' in the Foucauldian sense which children become increasingly adept at using in their early years in educational institutions. In this article, the use of classroom rules for the exercise of power is situated within a more general typology of power strategies used by young children. A distinction is made between violent and nonviolent strategies, within nonviolent strategies between physical and discursive strategies, within discursive strategies between the use of rules and other strategies, and within the use of rules between classroom rules and those stemming from within sociodramatic play. It is noted that, although within sociodramatic play power is primarily achieved by holding a power position within the fantasy, classroom rules are invoked both to defend eligibility for such positions and as a means of manifesting their power.