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Three - Playful Creatures

Learning Morality in Peer Play

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2024

Jing Xu
Affiliation:
University of Washington
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Summary

Abstract: Chapter 3 delves into the world of peer interactions. I present general patterns of children’s social networks, highlighting the importance of child-to-child ties. I illustrate the key features of this humorous, playful world and examine how peer play facilitates children’s moral learning. In peer play children are developing what I call “the spectrum of moral sensibilities:” They are learning about and engaging in cooperation and care, conflict and dominance, and creating gray areas in between. This poses a stark contrast to the imagery of “the innocent child” permeating in historical and philosophical views of Chinese childhood that fixate on the brighter side of human nature in moral cultivation. Moreover, through deciphering children’s pretend play, I argue that these non-elite children, often relegated to history’s silent margins, have a much richer inner life than my predecessors assumed. Lastly, using a human–machine hybrid approach, I find that young learners’ sensibilities in discerning layered intentions and moral sentiments defeat AI algorithms. This sheds light on the mystery of human sensemaking and inspires reflections on ethnographic epistemology.

Type
Chapter
Information
‘Unruly’ Children
Historical Fieldnotes and Learning Morality in a Taiwan Village
, pp. 103 - 137
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Playful Creatures
  • Jing Xu, University of Washington
  • Book: ‘Unruly’ Children
  • Online publication: 31 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009416269.006
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  • Playful Creatures
  • Jing Xu, University of Washington
  • Book: ‘Unruly’ Children
  • Online publication: 31 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009416269.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Playful Creatures
  • Jing Xu, University of Washington
  • Book: ‘Unruly’ Children
  • Online publication: 31 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009416269.006
Available formats
×