THE SOCIAL IDENTITY SHOCK IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: FROM THE SINGULAR WORLD TO THE PLURAL WORLD OF SHARING

Abstract

This article analyzes the process of transition experienced by children from the family microcosm, initially characterized by relational experiences centered on their needs, desires, and perceptions, to the collective and plural environment of early childhood education. Entering an educational institution constitutes an important existential, sociocognitive, and affective transition, as children begin to experience a shared space inhabited by multiple individuals, different perspectives, rules, values, cultures, and forms of interaction. This transition produces a genuine social identity shock, as it requires the gradual overcoming of the centrality of the “self” and the development of the ability to recognize the other as an autonomous subject, endowed with intentions, needs, and rights. Grounded in Jean Piaget’s psychogenetic theory, Lev Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory, and Anete Abramowicz’s contemporary contributions to the sociology of childhood, the study understands child development as occurring through the articulation of cognitive, affective, social, and cultural processes. From Piaget’s perspective, the importance of cognitive decentration and the reorganization of mental structures becomes evident in response to the demands of sharing, living with different perspectives, and respecting collective rules. In dialogue with Vygotsky, the study emphasizes that abilities such as cooperation, self-regulation, language, and the understanding of social relationships are initially developed through interactions and subsequently internalized by the child, thus highlighting the fundamental role of cultural and pedagogical mediation. In this process, the school emerges as the child’s first formal public space for social interaction and assumes a function that goes beyond mere behavioral adaptation or the transmission of content. It is concluded that the social identity shock experienced in the transition from the singular world to the plural world constitutes a complex process of psychological, cognitive, affective, and social reorganization.