The city as a factor of socialization of preschoolers: routes of movement and semantic points

Based on the materials of sociological surveys, the article reveals the routes and semantic points of urban movements of preschoolers. The subject of the study is the city as a socio-territorial education and a space of socialization, with the main focus on the mobility of preschool children. The city, being a factor in the socialization of children, promotes the development of cognitive interest and communication skills, ensures integration into communities and the accumulation of social capital. Moving around the city forms identity, develops skills and promotes social integration, emphasizing the role of the city in the reproduction of connections and relationships. The study was conducted using the principles of the concept of Sociology of mobility of J. Urry and M. Scheller. The article presents the results of two studies conducted in 2021 and 2023. The object of the first study is the parent community of Yekaterinburg, which has preschool children (n=163), the objects of the second are teachers of preschool educational institutions (n=412). The research includes online surveys and interviews with parents, identifying travel routes and their social contexts in an urban environment. Four routes of urban movement are identified: educational, leisure and gaming, household, educational and recreational. Parents with preschool children do not limit themselves to the proposed trajectories, also visiting relatives, friends, shopping malls, cafes/restaurants. The study of mobility routes contributes to the study of children's space, which depends on factors of different order and level (type of territory, material wealth and type of family, etc.). The work argues that the socialization capabilities of the city for the development of children, on the one hand, are limited by the local infrastructure of the family's residential neighborhood, on the other hand, the choice of parental community routes urban mobility and a semantic map of movements.

city, socialization, socializing space, urban mobility routes, preschoolers, travel route, semantic points, the semantic map of mobility, pre-school educational institutions, additional education