Produced Through Disciplinary Practices and Interactions in Preschool
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Building Blocks of Difference: How Inequalities are (Re)Produced through Disciplinary Practices and Interactions in Preschool by Heidi M. Gansen A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) in the University of Michigan 2018 Doctoral Committee: Professor Karin A. Martin, Chair Professor Elizabeth A. Armstrong Professor Fatma Müge Göçek Professor Sheryl Olson Heidi M. Gansen [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8969-8120 © Heidi M. Gansen 2018 DEDICATION To my family. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My journey to a PhD and this dissertation would not be possible without the guidance and support of my mentors, colleagues, family members, and friends. First, I would like to thank my dissertation committee members for their invaluable feedback and guidance throughout this process. Karin Martin, my advisor and dissertation committee chair has provided tireless amounts of support and constructive feedback on my work since my first day of this program. She has always been willing to make time to meet, read (and reread) multiple drafts of papers, work on collaborative projects, and provide a listening ear. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with a mentor with whom I share such similar research interests. Thank you very much, Karin, for modeling work-life balance and for supporting and encouraging me throughout this program. Elizabeth Armstrong has her finger on the pulse of our discipline and her knowledge of several areas of sociology has broadened the reach of my work. Elizabeth’s straightforward and constructive feedback has greatly improved my writing and facilitated the presentation of my work to various sociological audiences. Thank you, Elizabeth, for your feedback, career advice, and willingness to have informal mentor chats when we catch each other in the hallway. Müge Göçek’s vast knowledge of sociological theory has assisted me in developing the framework and theoretical implications of my work. I admire Müge’s commitment to engaging in public sociology and researching tough questions even in the face of extreme adversity. Thank you, Müge, for strengthening the theoretical framework of my dissertation, and for always cheering me on with, “More power to you!” iii Lastly, Sherri Olson has provided much needed outside perspective on my work. Sherri’s immense knowledge of disparities in children’s self-regulation skills during the preschool years and feedback on my work has extended the reach of this dissertation through connecting it to various disciplines. Thank you, Sherri, for assisting me in thinking through the implications of my findings for children’s later educational outcomes, as well as the implications for day-to-day practices in preschool classrooms. The Gender and Sexuality Workshop in the University of Michigan’s Sociology Department has provided a great opportunity to get feedback on my work and to facilitate discussion and open dialogues with my colleagues in these fields. I am very thankful for the opportunity to participate in this close-knit intellectual community with so many brilliant scholars. The workshop participants’ supportive and constructive feedback at multiple stages greatly improved my work and my development as a scholar. I would also like to thank Elizabeth Bruch, Erin Cech, and Sanyu Mojola for their feedback on my work at various stages. I am very thankful for the support and encouragement of so many fellow graduate students in the Michigan sociology department. Special shout-out to Kelly Russell and Liz Ela for their support, encouragement, and friendship through my ups and downs since the first day of this program. Also, thanks to Denise Bailey for her feedback on my work and coffee chats about all things related to the sociology of childhood and ethnographies in preschools. As a first-generation college graduate, I would not be in the Michigan sociology department without the hands-on mentoring of several faculty members during my Bachelor’s and Master’s programs at the University of Northern Iowa. Thank you to Gayle Rhineberger- Dunn, Marybeth Stalp, and especially Carissa Froyum for challenging me to be a better writer and for laying the strong sociological foundation that facilitated my success in this PhD program. iv I would not be where I am today without the unconditional love and support of my family. Becky, I cannot begin to thank you enough for your unwavering and daily support during this PhD program. Thank you for motivating me and reassuring me every step of the way. I appreciate you so much, and thank you for your willingness to tag along to the library when I needed to work through the weekend or late into the evening. Also, thank you to my parents, especially my Mother, who has made so many sacrifices so that I can be where I am today. I am so grateful for you and appreciative of everything that you have done and continue to do for me. Thank you Mom, Dad, Becky, Jess, Mike, Babi, and all of my extended family for being my number one fans and cheering me on through each stage of my journey to this PhD. Also, thank you to Janna, Cassie, Afton, and Matthew for your friendship and support since my freshmen year of college. Last, but certainly not least, thank you to my fur babies, Lizzie, Olive, and Piper for providing comfort, love, cuddles, and a fun distraction from work. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................1 2. Reproducing (and Disrupting) Heteronormativity: Gendered Sexual Socialization in Preschool Classrooms ........................................................................................................17 3. Disciplining Difference(s): How Inequalities are Reproduced through Disciplinary Interactions in Preschool ....................................................................................................53 4. Following the (Gendered) Child: How Children’s Gendered Behaviors Become Enhanced, Extended, and Built in Preschool .....................................................................98 5. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................138 APPENDIX ......................................................................................................................147 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Study Overview .................................................................................................147 Table 2: Approaches to Gendered Sexual Socialization by Preschool ............................148 Table 3. Composition of Preschools Observed ................................................................149 vii ABSTRACT Much policy research suggests preschool undermines educational inequalities, especially gender, race, and social class disparities in educational outcomes. Using data from ethnographic observations in three preschools (nine classrooms total) and interviews with preschool educators observed, this dissertation examines how disciplinary practices and disciplinary interactions in preschool classrooms construct and perpetuate social inequalities. In the second Chapter of my dissertation (published in Sociology of Education 2017) I find that heteronormativity permeates preschool classrooms where teachers construct and occasionally disrupt gendered sexuality in many ways, and children reproduce and sometimes resist these identities and norms in their daily play. Across the three preschools I observed, heteronormativity shaped teachers’ delineation of behaviors as appropriate or in need of discipline. Teachers’ approaches to gendered sexual socialization also affected their response to children’s behaviors such as heterosexual romantic play (kissing and relationships), bodily displays, and bodily consent. This work demonstrates how children begin to make sense of heteronormativity and the rules associated with sexuality through interactions with their teachers and peers in preschool. The third Chapter of my dissertation examines how disciplinary practices and disciplinary interactions operate in racialized, classed, and gendered ways, in preschool. Discipline inequality, especially experiences of exclusionary discipline, have long-term effects on educational outcomes. In this Chapter, I find preschool teachers’ perceptions of students’ viii misbehavior vary by students’ intersectional social statuses despite that most children’s self- regulation and behavioral skills are at similar stages developmentally in preschool. My data suggest that race, class, and gender compositions of preschool classrooms matter for students’ experiences of discipline inequalities. I found that preschool teachers provided more monitoring and discipline to girls from low-socioeconomic backgrounds when they were in classrooms that were mostly middle-class; middle-class black boys received more monitoring and discipline than their peers when they were in classrooms that were majority