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Cultural identity development

Erikson’s psycho-social theory of development

Erikson’s theory is foundational in the identity development of children. The theory follows a social and cognitive development of individuals. These 8 stages focus on collectedness, relatedness and the impact of our interactions in these processes 

• The lifespan is divided into 8 stages of development, from birth to death.
• Each stage has a crisis/tension that needs to be resolved and that resolution affects the next stage (the crisis is ‘necessary’ for each stage)
• How the challenge of each stage is solved impacts personality and identity development.
• Erikson: the first to recognize the role of social context in identity development. He introduced the term ‘identity crisis’

In de volgende 3 fases vind de ontwikkeling van identiteit plaats

Identification in childhood (ages 6-11)

• Starts when the children recognize themselves as a separate being from their parents (individuals from their parents)
• The processes of identification in this stage are primarily related to  copying (identyfing with) traits/characteristics of their parents or other significant others.
• This stage ends when the children experience a desire for uniqueness and greater differentiation from their parents, that’s expressed with a search of differentiation
• Kinderen hebben al een ego gevormd in deze fase

Identify formation during adolescence (ages 12-24)

In this stage there are a variety of different (intense) changes

• The stage is characterized by a search for a self-categorization/understanding and existential purpose in the world/role in society.
• Very important for the development of a sense of well-being, sense of belonging (to a place, group or to one’s body), and for a sense of direction in life.
• Identity crisis in this stage: sense of loss and confusion; the importance of having outlets of expression.    If you don’t express your identity you can develop an identity crisis
• You have more questions about who you are, what your purpose in life and your role in society is. Erikson conceptualized that search of purpose in life in terms of ‘occupational purpose.’

Identity development in adulthood (ages 25 and beyond)

• This stage is defined by a shift of focus from identity concerns towards intimacy issues and bonds with others » this does not mean that the concerns about identity disappear after young adulthood
• New life events and experiences can still have impact on identity development (e.g. migration, having children, coming out). If you are a parent you start asking yourself which norms, values etc. you want to reflect on your

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Unequal childhoods – concerted cultivation or poverty?

Big picture (1) – the growing ‘skills gap’

• Social inequality in labor market opportunities, income, health and life expectancy are increasingly dependent on the skills people acquire in the course of their lives.
  • It is about cognitive academic (school) skills, but also about broader non-cognitive skills in the social-emotional domain such as self-esteem, self-control, ability to collaborate, motivation, creativity, and cultural and social capital (deze begrippen worden later verder uitgelegd).
• Family income (not race, ethnicity, social class as such) is an increasingly important factor explaining inequalities in educational and social opportunities.
  • The higher income families spend an increasing part of their (already higher) income on high quality childcare and after school care, private schools, non-formal shadow education, and informal social, cultural and creative socialization, and sports » all to the benefits of their children
• Income differences by diploma (1964-2012)
  • Despite increased educational spending and access to education, the income gap by diploma has widened by a factor 2.
  • Even in egalitarian countries like Denmark a multiplication of the income gap has occurred (Heckman, 2020)
  • This has to do with the idea of skills acquisition

Big picture (2) – privatization of education

• Next to the public education system, there is a growing market of non-formal ‘shadow education’ (e.g. exam training) and informal education in social and cultural skills (music, creativity, sports, science).
• Non-formal schadow education in The Netherlands: from 26m € per year in 1996 to 284m € in 2018.
• Shadow education is a widespread phenomenon. There is a strong increase in money that parents spend on extra education for their children.
• High private costs on shadow education are the major cause of the growing ‘skills gap’

Social and educational inequalities

• Educational inequalities and, later in life, unequal social opportunities emerge already early and point to unequal childhoods.
• 60% to 80% of the education gap between children from low and high SES family backgrounds at the end of primary school is already present at age 6, so before formal schooling starts (Skopek et al., 2021).
• Primary education cannot (greatly) reduce the early gaps and gaps tend to become bigger after transition to secondary education

2 studies om beeld te geven van ‘unequal childhood’:

Early gesturing and vocabulary growth (Rowe & Golding-Meadow, 1999)

• Even before real language learning starts, there is already a difference between high and low socioeconomic families in how they

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Early childhood education and care & school

3 different aspects:

• Disparities and education gap
• Role of ECEC and school
• Classroom experiences and interventions

Disparities – education gap

• Income stronger predictor of school success than migration background
• Explanatory factors » various forms of capital
  • Economic capital: financial and material resources
  • Human capital: parental education level; cognitive stimulation
  • Social capital: resources available in network
  • Cultural capital: knowledge, skills and familiarity with dominant culture
• Upward mobility (i.e. having a lot of access to different sources of capital can also allow you to go beyond what your parents or grandparents have accomplished. You are moving up the social ladder) OR cultural reproduction (i.e. because of the types of capital that you were exposed to, you stay within the same community and basically reproduce the upbringing that you had yourself)?
• To close the gap you should tackle the source

Role of ECEC – primary education

• Effects of ECEC: ECEC attendance can partly close the education gap, however several issues stand out:
  • Magnitude (=omvang) of effects dependent on:
    • Quality of the provided care
    • Duration or intensity
  • Accessibility of ECEC » negative social selection tendencies and reduced access to high quality ECEC for disadvantaged families
  • Effects strongest for cognitive and language development and weaker for social emotional development
• Effects of ECEC in the Netherlands (Dutch study):
  • Short term effects (2-4 years, before enrollment in primary school):
    
    • More guided and pretend play » better vocabulary skill development
    • Use of an education program (VVE = vroege voorschoolse educatie) » better vocabulary
    • Higher educational quality (= quality of interactions) » better attention skills
  • Long term effects (final grade primary school):
    
    • Higher intensity from 2 years » better reading skills, less externalizing problem behavior but early high intensity possible risk factor for externalizing problem behavior
    • More literacy activities (= lees- en schrijfactiviteiten) in preschool » better reading skills

Classroom experiences and interventions

Quality universal definition? (Rosenthal, 2003)