Dark play as a misrecognized need for redistributing (digital) goods: An example from an egalitarian society

Abstract

This article contextualizes the dark sides of play from a cultural-historical perspective using Fraser’s theory of social justice based on the concepts of recognition and redistribution. Through a micro-ethnographic analysis of a kindergarten’s daily life and play situations between 2 five-year-old girls, the article describes the dark play from a societal perspective (increasing economic and, thereby, digital inequalities), institutional perspective (the Norwegian kindergarten’s pedagogy of recognition) and individual perspective (the children’s motives to redistribute (digital) goods). The girls described in the article represent radically different backgrounds, but they attend the same kindergarten located in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in a large city in Norway. Insight into their play and their kindergarten’s daily routines provides knowledge about institutional recognition practices that maintain existing inequalities, as well as the children’s motives, which are anchored in the modus of redistribution. The misrecognized redistribution motives lead to activities of compensation and revenge performed in play situations.