Lévi-Strauss's Bricolage and Theorizing Teachers' Work

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2470232
AutoresElizabeth Hatton (Mount Elizabeth Hospital, autor correspondente)
Ano1989
Volume20
Fascículo2
Páginas74-96
Data de publicação1989-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAnthropology & Education Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0161-7761 • E-ISSN: 1548-1492
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/aeq.1989.20.2.05x0841i
OpenAlexW1988884585
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas25
Referências citadas24

The concept of bricolage, as it is developed by Lévi-Strauss, is useful in characterizing the form of teachers' work. It subsumes extensive research concerning teachers' work and provides a heuristic device for developing causal explanations of teachers' work. This article begins with an account of bricolage on the technical plane and bricolage on the plane of speculation. The latter is distinguished from abstract science. Those features of teachers' work that should be seen as bricolage are discussed. These include conservatism, limited creativity, repertoire enlargement, teachers' use of theory, the use of devious means, and ad hocism. Some causal explanations of these features are then suggested. These include anticipatory socialization, preservice experiences reinforcing anticipatory socialization, failures and omissions in teacher education programs, and constraints in the work situation. The article concludes with an account of how the concept of bricolage functions to refine causal explanations of the form of teachers' work

Bricolage · Creativity · Epistemology · Pedagogy · Social science · Socialization · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Philosophy · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology · Social Representations and Identity