Childhood: The Paradoxes of Autonomy

The article problematizes the possibility of developing agency in childhood. It is shown that the usually non-differentiable constructs "agency" and "autonomy" psychologically represent fundamentally different actions. The basis for their distinction is the nature of the individual's interaction with the social structure. Autonomy is an integration into an existing structure, the acquisition of skills for independent functioning in it. Agency, on the other hand, involves the transformation of the structure and "crossing the border of semantic fields," according to Yu.M. Lotman. There have been several important "turns" in childhood research over the past decades. Initially, childhood was considered as a preparation for adulthood, which was implemented in fundamentally hierarchical forms of education. Since about the 1970s, children have been talked about as potential actors in the social world. And since the beginning of the XXI century, the discussion of independence (autonomy) has been gaining momentum, as part of which they distinguish the ability to act independently of others and act in accordance with their goals and beliefs.  The authors distinguish agency as overcoming the boundaries characterizing the structure, and autonomy as actions within the initially defined boundaries. They consider productive action (event) to be the mechanism of agency as a situation—changing action, and as a way of "learning" agency - a trial, including a game.  Examples of statements by teenagers and young people that can be qualified as specific to agency, independence and volitional action are given.