Ideologiske koder som redskap for å utforske standardiserte forståelser av familier og barn

Abstract

Ideological codes can be described as standardized and standardizing schematic constructions that determine in powerful ways how we understand the world and what we consider normal or deviant. In this chapter we explain what ideological codes are, how they can be discovered, and what the analytical potential of such discoveries is. As a frame of reference, we build on Griffith and Smith’s notable study “Mothering for schooling”, and their concept of the Standard North-American Family (SNAF). With reference to our own studies of kindergarten teachers’ work, we explore the “standard child” as a similar ideological code. We show how this code is mediated by texts that become instructive to how normalcy and deviance is understood, and which, in effect, produce and reproduce patterns of privilege.