Resistive-relationship among young children understood by peer culture: A qualitative case study of Solip kindergarten

This study seeks to understand a group of young children who resist the rules, order, and conventions of the kindergarten classroom from a peer culture perspective. In the classroom, their resistance is often the subject of discipline and guidance, but from a peer culture perspective, it is read as part of children's world. To understand kindergarten peer culture, participant observation and teacher interviews were conducted, and the data collected were subjected to open, axial, and selective coding. The data were then interpreted in terms of Goffman's symbolic interaction theory and Corsaro's peer culture perspective. The analysis revealed that the children's resistance was characterized by relational interactions: the “friends” group excluded a non-friend from play, the children with the popular playthings abused their concentrated power, and the children intentionally and covertly broke the rules without the teacher's knowledge. The interpretation was that play exclusion was to protect their play from intruders, popular play created power and powerlessness and power resisters, and sneaky behavior was an instinct to preserve agency in a space under scrutiny. Understanding early childhood peer culture provides teachers with a lens through which to interpret young children's behavior and approach issues from a different angle.