Otherness in me, otherness in others: Children's and youth's constructions of self and other

In childhood studies identity and difference are generally framed in the context of adult-child relationships. In this article it is explored how children and youth come to construe self and other in relation to other children and youth. Difference/otherness becomes an important organizing aspect of children's social practices favouring a new agenda of analysis: that which examines the conditions of children's constructions of social bonds in the midst of perverse social inequalities and social antagonism. Furthermore, a certain positive `value' of difference is argued for having in view its political underpinnings: difference can be regarded as the result of discursive-material social practices which introduce plurality and diversity in human societies. This point seems to be crucial to the dynamics of social life and to a discussion of social cohesion and social fragmentation.