Nature at a Child’s Level: Ecological Socialisation and the Origins of Inequality

As part of the CESAER Social Sciences Seminar, we will welcome Julien Vitores for a presentation of his book: Nature at a Child’s Level: Ecological Socialisation and the Origins of Inequality Are children naturally drawn to nature? Behind this widely held assumption lie significant social differences in the ways children discover, experience and engage with nature from an early age. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted with children aged three to six, their parents and their teachers in the Paris region and in a rural municipality in southern France, Julien Vitores examines how different relationships with nature are shaped by social class and gender. Observing and naming insects, spending time in the mountains, treating animals as characters, taking an interest in tree cutting, or developing particular forms of sensitivity towards living things: these experiences represent different forms of ecological socialisation that contribute not only to children’s early learning but also to the production and reproduction of social inequalities. Challenging the idea that nature is equally accessible to everyone, this research highlights the processes of social distinction at work from early childhood and invites us to consider the conditions needed to make nature a genuine common good.