Public policy discourses on childhood during Chilean post-authoritarian democracy: A case of discursive colonization by the language of the free market

Abstract

Based on the approach to language of Critical Discourse Analysis, this article explores the discursive construction of childhood in public policies during post-authoritarian Chilean democracy. Focusing on a key goal-setting policy document, the study notes how past and present discourses, including elements of the classical evolutionist view of childhood, the more historically recent children’s rights perspective, and that of the social investment in children, are combined. The social investment perspective tends to predominate, as part of the ‘colonization’ of discourses regarding childhood by the language of the free market.

Explorando los riesgos didácticos y epistémicos de la incorporación de la perspectiva infantil en la historia escolar: Orientaciones didácticas para el profesorado activo

“…Un primer aspecto que se debe cautelar a la hora de integrar la infancia en la enseñanza de la especialidad, es el posible riesgo de generalizar este concepto como una categoría abstracta, dado que, como plantea Álvarez (2021), se suele tratar a los niños y niñas como sujetos que pierden toda particularidad en la historia escolar. Este abstraccionismo etario, según Vergara (2014), provoca que los infantes sean entendidos desde la postura del mundo adulto como entes genéricos dependientes de este segmento, ignorando la diversidad de dimensiones presentes en su experiencia como actores sociales (en cuanto a clase, género, religiosidad, aspectos étnico-nacionales, posiciones políticas, etc.). Del mismo modo, dicho fenómeno etario hace pensar a los niños y niñas de un modo bastante específico, como si se trataran de individuos aislados que se mantienen al margen de las relaciones sociales.…”

Re-thinking childhood in Peru: A critical discourse analysis of Peruvian early childhood policies

“…Moreover, it has promoted the inclusion of children and childhood in the agendas of governments around the world. For instance, Vergara (2015) examined the 'National Policy in Aid of Childhood and Adolescence' in Chile and evidenced how children were represented as rights holders with an opinion to express. Similarly, Lundkvist et al (2017) studied parliamentary documents and reforms regarding early childhood education and care in Finland, showing that children's rights were one of the main frameworks employed to justify political actions and functioned as a rhetoric to promote social equality, justice and inclusion for young children.…”

“…The early childhood sector in Peru has been ‘colonised’ by the language of human capital theory as this economic rationale is one of the first ones to recur to justify national investments for young children (Vergara, 2015). This discourse can be found with a higher prominence in ‘Guidelines – Childhood First’.…”

“…The analysis of policy discourses is therefore crucial to access the meanings and representations encoded in them. With regards to early childhood, this is a way to unpack the conceptualisations about children and childhood, as well as the position given to them in an adult-centred society (Vergara, 2015).…”