Play and Power, Psychology of

Play Theory

Sutton-Smith identifies play theory as one area where scholars do talk about power and play among children. He says some say children engage in solitary play because they enjoy having power during it or because they do not have power and their play is a kind of wish fulfillment. Sutton-Smith says play therapists further say children work through their conflicts in play. This gives them “the illusion of greater ego mastery and, with the help of a therapist, a greater understanding and control of themselves.” Game theorists have also applied their theoretical approach to children's play. Sutton-Smith says the conflict enculturation theory of games states that “children learn how to exercise power over others by cunning, physical skill or spirituality” Sutton-Smith writes that game theorists further state they have found correlations between cultural features like “child-rearing, ecological, technological” features and “games of strategy, physical skill, and chance.”

Illicit Play and Power Play

Sutton-Smith especially likes Nancy R. King's examination of illicit play among children. He gives an example of this illicit play in terms of the elementary classroom where “children doodle, pass notes, whisper, make faces, giggle, mock and satirize adults.” The bright students do it in a way that the teacher does not see them, while the backward students do it overtly and disruptively. These and other play forms allow children to express their disdain for schools and specific teachers. Teachers often do not know that some students play more often than the ones they catch.

Sutton-Smith examines illicit play in terms of children's folklore. He says that if you look at children's folklore, you find “that children's play derives from their relative disempowerment compared with adults.” He states that by looking closely at folklore at places like summer camps we can discover sometimes visible and sometimes covert play and ritual. Quaker children illustrate covert play by outwardly adhering to fairness in games, but secretly going against it. We can see overt play in the teasing and pranks of children. Sutton-Smith says pranks are more visible since they sometimes intrude into the adult world.

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