Moulding democratic citizens

Democracy and education in modern European history – an introduction

Bibliographic Data

ID12529281
AuthorsPhillip Wagner (Philosophische Fakultät III, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany, corresponding author), Till Kössler (0000-0002-1483-3674, Philosophische Fakultät III, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany)
Year2022
Volume29
Issue6
Pages859-883
Publication date2022-11-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Review of History Revue européenne d histoire (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1350-7486 • E-ISSN: 1469-8293
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13507486.2022.2133683
OpenAlexW4320060208
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited78

Politicians and intellectuals across Europe largely agree that democracies require educated citizens. However, current conflicts surrounding disinformation on social media, right-wing populism and religious fundamentalism seem to cast doubts on the democratic maturity of Western societies. At the same time, controversies exist around the thorny issue of what kind of education befits democracy and whether and how governments should intervene in the political education of their citizens. These controversies have a long and complicated history, which stands at the centre of this special issue. By both exploring how states, political parties and social movements tried to shape political identities and assessing the resulting successes, failures and contradictions of these attempts, the articles provide a unique window into the conflicted history of West European democracy. Educational programmes attempted not only to empower individuals, but also to manage, control and frame political and civic engagement. While these schemes also always entailed the promise of equality, in practice, they often identified certain social groups – such as women, the working classes or immigrants – who ostensibly lacked the moral or cognitive preconditions for democratic citizenship and therefore needed special educational attention. The individuals to be educated did not passively give in to the competing programmes of governments and political movements. Rather, they often circumvented or even openly resisted educational schemes from above that sought to change their lifestyles and political consciousness. In order to place the articles in this special issue in a wider historiographical context, this introduction illuminates the nineteenth and early twentieth-century roots of the tensions that haunted the endeavours to educate post-1945 democratic citizens

Context (archaeology · Democracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Sociology · Historical Education Studies Worldwide · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law