This dissertation examines children’s social belonging in Swedishpreschool. It identifies the social and ethical values that emerge as children strive to experience a sense of belonging and feeling at home within preschool communities. Drawing on the theoretical framework of thepolitics of belonging (Yuval-Davis, 2006, 2011) and informed by critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2010), this study conceptualises belongingas a relational and power-laden process constituted through everyday interactions.

The empirical material for this research consists of interviews, videoobservations, and field notes collected from two preschool settings. By analysing the talk and actions of teachers, children, and guardians, the study explores how belonging is constructed, negotiated, and contested in everyday practices. Attention is devoted to processes of inclusion and exclusion as well as to how identities and social positions are produced in preschool as a discursive practice.

The findings reveal that belonging is shaped by a dynamic interplaybetween individual agency and institutional norms. Being part of preschool therefore implies not only physical presence but also active engagement inplay, routines, and activities. Through such engagement, children participate in the construction of meaning through place and in doing so, also create themselves as individuals who belong. At the same time, the analysis shows that belonging is not equally accessible to all; it is influenced by factors such as social norms, language, cultural background and social competence. Children’s belonging is shaped through the interplay between three overarching levels of categorisation: translocality,transcality, and transtemporality. Together, they constitute a politics of belonging that influences children’s opportunities for participation,recognition, and inclusion in everyday preschool life. This politics reflects a broader tension between conceptualisations of children. In summary,belonging is shaped by complex politics in which children are expected to both act independently, require support and to be active co-constructors of their social worlds while also being recipients of care. These conflicting expectations are not merely pedagogical challenges but expressions of deeper normative structures that shape the conditions under which children are able to belong in preschool.