A Performance Theory of Peer Relations

The essentially child saving point of view is illustrated in the continuing reviews of this field by W. W. Hartup, in which he sets forth values of peerhood for society. Since children give the greater part of their own free time together to play and games, it would seem that focusing on those might give us a new and privileged access to what their world means to themselves. In 19th century anthropology it was the habit to see children’s play constructions as strictly imitative. The overarching assumption of educators and child psychologists for the past 100 years has been that children learn in diverse ways, and that their learning can be organized for the good of society. Although modem attention is to the intricacies of the peer group, their roles, their cohesiveness, popularity, attachment, aggression, friendships and cooperation these structural concerns are usually combined with a concern for function in an adultcentric sense.