Abstract:
How is socialization defined with regard to gender? Which role does the
self-image play in this, and what significance does this have for the
development of gender identity in the preschool years?
These questions have been handled until now only in a preliminary way, and
more or less focused on a specific aspect.
Because women are predominately available in the first years of life for
significant relation, I wanted to discover what significance this had for
boys.
Until now, the individually-expressed needs of boys have been rarely cited
in scientific research.
I wanted to hear the boys themselves, on the topic of how they evaluate
their actions, what significance they ascribe to the playing situations in
preschool and to social relationships. The largely absent powers of
reflection in this age group make such investigations and their scientific
evaluation difficult. Additionally, there is usually still a limited
linguistic capacity.
These developmentally-determined difficulties in the investigation of the
needs of boys in the preschool age had the consequence that I had to
develop a peculiar design for investigation. Phenomenological points of
view, and points of view oriented toward life-experience, rendered help and
formed, eventually, the foundation of my work.
It became clear that boys could give better information concerning their
attitudes, relationships, and behavior, as well as their self-perceptions,
than is usually assumed in childhood research. The significance of domestic
socialization, of the peer group, the special perceptions about girls, as
well as the relative invisibility of the caregiving, became clear in this
process.