Gilliam, Laura & EvaGulløv. Children of the welfare state: civilising practices in schools, childcare and families. viii, 290 pp., bibliogr. London: Pluto Press, 2017. £20.99 (paper)

Abstract

Children of the welfare state explores the civilizing processes embedded in child-rearing practices in kindergartens, schools, and families in Denmark. The book, first published in Danish in 2012, is by Laura Gilliam and Eva Gulløv, with contributions from Karen Fog Olwig and Dil Bach, and is based on ethnographic fieldwork within various Danish institutions and contexts as part of the research programme ‘Civilizing Institutions in a Modern Welfare State’. The volume consists of nine chapters, each of which can be read in its own right, although the chapters build on each other to produce an overall argument. The general theoretical perspective is Norbert Elias's notion of ‘the civilizing process’: that is, an increasing structuring and restraining of behaviour and personalities through socialization. The first chapter introduces this concept as a lens through which to examine child-rearing practices. The authors offer this as ‘a perspective that we can use to elucidate the phenomenon of childrearing in relation to the values, norms and standards that underlie the requirements, prioritisations and evaluations of children in families and in public children's institutions in contemporary Danish welfare society’ (p. 17). In my opinion, this perspective helps the authors successfully present an analysis that sheds new light on the central mechanisms shaping child-rearing in Danish society. Chapter 2 outlines a history of the shifting perceptions of children and child-rearing and of what represents ‘civilised behaviour’, all of which can be seen to reflect both the changes in power relations and conflicts within Danish society. Through this the authors emphasize that values are ‘realised, manifested and have an effect’ in everyday interactions between children and adults in institutions today (p. 53). Such values are influenced by specific ideological rationales and political currents that must be understood in the context of the ethos and development of the Danish society and state. The following six empirical chapters explore how ideals such as ‘equality’ and ‘becoming social’ underpin this ongoing process and examine underlying power-relations such as ethnicity and class (particularly middle-class ‘norms’). Gulløv's chapter 3 and Olwig's chapter 4 explore how these values manifest as social processes in kindergartens. As most children in Denmark attend kindergarten from the age of 1, it is usually formative for young children's identities and social lives. Chapters 5-7, by Gilliam, focus on the ‘civilising’ of schoolchildren across different ages, geographical areas, and socioeconomic backgrounds. She demonstrates how these processes in effect display value-based differences grounded within ethnicity and class. For example, ‘Danish’ values are contrasted to those of ‘immigrants’ (or ‘ethnic’ communities), the latter being communicated as second-rate and not an alternative to Danish ‘core values’. Similarly, class is also made visible through a contrast between the lifestyle and ethics of the ‘affluent’ and the Danish ‘middle classes’. The eighth, and last, chapter is based on Bach's fieldwork among fifteen affluent Danish families. She discusses how family practices are crucial to the ways households relate to one another and central to how a family's identity and social status are shaped. Bach concludes that affluent families’ investment of time and resources in their children can be understood as a ‘“defensive strategy of respectability” and not only an offensive strategy of civilising and distinction’ (p. 233). I found the analysis of the symbolic meaning of childhood and children, their behaviour, and the shaping of their identities among the affluent particularly interesting as it provides a great example of the child-centred orientation of both Nordic societies and welfare states. While the empirical arguments are comprehensive and convincing in the presentation of social change in Denmark and the mechanisms that shape processes of civilization, I missed some reflection on how neoliberal forces might influence Danish institutions. This is only briefly mentioned in the book's last pages while discussing ‘decivilising’ tendencies (pp. 265-7). As a result, the book's argument is focused on understanding how contemporary processes stabilize the social order and moral ideals, rather than seeing these, at least in part, as resulting from processes of globalization and/or neoliberalism. The overall argument therefore underplays the increasing influence of neoliberalism and New Public Management on formal teaching, pedagogical methods, and assessments in Danish (and Nordic) public schools and childcare institutions – as elsewhere in the public sector. In brief, the book's empirical descriptions and analyses of child-rearing and civilizing processes are convincing. The authors present in a recognizable and interesting way everyday child-rearing practices in Danish families and other institutions. Children of the welfare state is well worth reading and reflecting upon, for anthropologists and anyone else interested in civilizing processes in Danish – or Nordic – society.