A Welfare Citizen in the Danish Folkeskole
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‘Being’ and ‘Becoming’ a Welfare Citizen in the Danish Folkeskole A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Ditte Strunge Sass School of Social science Brunel University August 2013 Abstract for ‘Being’ and ‘Becoming’ a Welfare Citizen in the Danish Folkeskole This thesis is an ethnographic investigation into the ‘bringing about’ of the Danish welfare citizen as observed through everyday values and practices in the Danish folkeskole. The thesis takes as its starting point the notion of dannelse, which is the ’holistic formation of social human beings who can manage their own lives, who know how to behave properly in society, and how to fit in with each other’ (Jenkins 2011:187) and hygge (cosiness), as the primary frameworks through which Danishness can be understood. While trying to unravel what these values/practices are and how they were expressed and inculcated in the everyday lived reality at the Danish folkeskole, I observed the importance of several other key concepts, including lighed (equality as expressed through sameness), and medborgerskab (co-citizenship). This thesis will attempt to understand the importance of these concepts in relation to wider Danish society, and as defining features on the ‘citizenship-journey’ that the Danish folkeskole in this thesis represents. I will argue that the Danish folkeskole to some degree exemplifies a ‘playpen of democracy’ (Korsgaard 2008) as it exists as a liminal sphere, both in terms of providing a space in which students can practice ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ welfare citizens, but more crucially also as a space in-between the public and the private sphere, a home- away-from-home. This is achieved through notions of hygge to provide the safe and bounded space that is necessary to secure a conducive learning environment in which students can obtain a shared ideological understanding of the world, and hence an equal starting point. Finally, my thesis will focus on the interaction between and value connotations of concepts such as diversity, difference, individuality, inequality and heterogeneity. I am principally interested in demonstrating how these exist in a dynamic relationship with concepts such as equality, similarity, homogeneity and a sense of ‘we/us’ as Danish, and subsequently as democratic welfare citizens. 1 Content Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... 6 Maps ......................................................................................................................... 7 Guide to School and Classes ....................................................................................... 8 Glossary ..................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter I: Introduction ............................................................................................ 11 Chapter II: Literature Review ................................................................................... 16 Anthropology of Education ................................................................................... 16 The British and the American school of anthropology ........................................... 16 Anthropology of Education – beyond the differences ............................................ 18 General themes and tensions in the Anthropology of Education .......................... 19 The Educational Institutions in the Danish welfare state ....................................... 20 Childhood ............................................................................................................. 23 ‘Child’ as process, category, and agent .................................................................. 24 Children’s bodies .................................................................................................... 26 Emile Durkheim and Morality ............................................................................... 27 Emile Durkheim ...................................................................................................... 27 Anthropology of morality in education .................................................................. 31 Social Reproduction ............................................................................................. 33 Louis Althusser ....................................................................................................... 34 Pierre Bourdieu ....................................................................................................... 35 Discussion of Social reproduction theory ............................................................... 38 The Egalitarian Welfare State, Diversity, and Nationalism .................................... 40 Democracy and the Democratic State .................................................................... 41 The Welfare State ................................................................................................... 42 Multiculturalism and the Welfare State ................................................................. 43 Nationalism ............................................................................................................. 45 Nationalism as State-Ideology vs Everyday ............................................................ 47 Everyday Nationalism ............................................................................................. 48 Recap ................................................................................................................... 50 Thesis Structure: .................................................................................................. 51 Chapter III: Background ........................................................................................... 54 The Danish welfare state ...................................................................................... 54 History of the Danish Folkeskole .......................................................................... 58 Historical antecedents ............................................................................................ 60 Folkeskolen today ................................................................................................... 63 Avedøre and By Skolen: a brief history ................................................................. 64 Recap ................................................................................................................... 66 Chapter IV: Methodology ......................................................................................... 67 2 Why Welfare States, Why schools and Why Denmark? ......................................... 68 Choosing a field, academically and geographically ................................................ 69 Gaining Access ..................................................................................................... 71 Starting Fieldwork ................................................................................................ 74 Building relationships of trust .............................................................................. 77 Insider/Outsider ................................................................................................... 81 Re-discovering my research questions .................................................................. 83 Ethical issues ........................................................................................................ 83 Familial ties to the school ....................................................................................... 84 Rigging of the election ............................................................................................ 85 Supply teaching at neighbouring schools ............................................................... 86 Ethical and methodological issues arising from working with children .................. 86 Leaving the field – Quitting the fags ..................................................................... 88 Chapter V: Democracy ............................................................................................. 89 Democracy the Danish way .................................................................................. 92 Democracy and the school ................................................................................... 96 Legitimate Peripheral Participation .................................................................... 100 Everyday Democracy .......................................................................................... 102 Class’s Hour .......................................................................................................... 106 The Student Council ............................................................................................. 111 Departmental meeting ......................................................................................... 116 School board ......................................................................................................... 119 Denmark, world champions in democracy? ........................................................ 120 Chapter VI: Hygge .................................................................................................. 123 Hygge in a cultural analytical framework ........................................................... 125 Christmas as the epitome of hygge ....................................................................