Pedagogy in citizenship education research: A comparative perspective

Abstract Both in citizenship education research and public debate, interest in understanding the role and significance of young people in the current state and future of democracy is ongoing. From one point of view, young people are seen as alienated and passive, thus raising concern. From another point of view, young people are seen as drivers for change, thus raising hope. This chapter intends to explore such contradicting roles of the young Nordic citizens. The basic questions are as follows: (1) What are the characteristics of the Nordic youth relative to the youth in other regions? (2) What are their main perceptions and attitudes towards the active and passive dimensions of citizenship? (3) Have these characteristics and perceptions changed over time? Empirically, the analyses and interpretations are based on IEA’s International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2009 and ICCS 2016 data applied to demonstrate the regional trends, similarities, and differences among youth. In general, the Nordic youth are relatively passive with regard to political participation. At the same time, however, they are knowledgeable and democratically engaged. We propose a new analytical concept to understand this “double-sided” civic engagement of the Nordic youth as the reserved young Nordic citizens.

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Ecological Citizenship Education and the Consumption of Animal Subjectivity

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci9010041 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 41 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Reingard Spannring

Keyword(s):

Education Research ◽

Political Theory ◽

Citizenship Education ◽

Human Subject ◽

Subjective Experience ◽

Complex Dynamics ◽

Consumer Society ◽

Ecological Citizenship ◽

The Earth ◽

The World

The unfolding of the ecological disaster has led authors to reconsider the position of the human subject and his/her relationship with the earth. One entry point is the concept of ecological citizenship, which emphasizes responsibility, community, and care. However, the discourse of ecological citizenship often reduces the human subject to a critical consumer-citizen and citizenship education to the production of such a subject. The position outlined in this paper provides a more fundamental critique of consumption as a way of being in and relating to the world. In particular, it foregrounds objectification, commodification, and its impacts on human and nonhuman subjectivity and the possibility of care within a multi-species community. The paper brings animal-sensitive work in environmental education research and political theory into dialogue with a more general critique of culture and pedagogy in consumer society. From this perspective, ecological citizenship education seeks to liberate human and nonhuman beings from predetermined behavioral results and functions, and opens the time and space for the subjectification of human and nonhuman citizens within the complex dynamics of a multi-species community. With this proposition, the paper contributes to an ecocentric understanding of ecological citizenship education that builds on the continuity of life and subjective experience.

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