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ERIC Number: ED223357
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1982-Sep
Pages: 22
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Carpool: An Uninvestigated Setting for Early Childhood Socialization.
Adler, Peter; Adler, Patricia S.
Numerous childhood activities and relationships have been studied within the context of socialization, but one form of interpersonal experience has not yet been investigated by social researchers: the carpool. This paper investigates the types of interaction which take place within the carpool setting, both between children and adults and among peer group members. The authors conducted 50 intensive taped interviews with carpool parents, talked with teachers and administrators at several private schools attended by the children of the sample population, and observed events occurring both during and relating to their child's carpool as well as events in the carpool experiences of friends' and neighbors' children. These interviews and observations supplemented over 800 carpool trips the authors had personally participated in as they drove to school, camp, and after-hours activities over a 3-year period. Results demonstrated that apart from their function as educators, the most significant socializing influence carpooling adults have on children is to serve as role models, demonstrating and stressing the importance of certain values and behavioral norms. These include appropriate automobile safety; tolerance for other people; respect for people's feelings, privacy and personal space; and fairness in treating people equally. As for the child-child interaction, results indicated that most of the children's carpool play was characterized by friendship and cooperation. When friendship and cooperation break down they may be replaced by antagonism, meanness and hostility. The authors conclude by assessing how carpooling socialization corresponds to the three primary models of socialization - internalization of society's norms and values, learning roles for future use, and developing interactional competence - depicted by sociologists. (MP)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A