Educating for active compliance

Discursive Constructions in Citizenship Education

Bibliographic Data

ID4758633
AuthorsJacqueline Kennelly (0000-0002-8991-3898, Carleton University, corresponding author), Kristina R Llewellyn (0000-0002-3445-2385, University of Waterloo)
Year2011
Volume15
Issue6-7
Pages897-914
Publication date2011-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCitizenship Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-1025 • E-ISSN: 1469-3593
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13621025.2011.600103
OpenAlexW2128697054
LanguageEN
Citations received48
References cited32

This article examines the discursive construction of ‘active citizenship’ within recent civics curriculum documents across three provinces in Canada. New secondary school civics curricula have emerged across liberal democratic states since the year 2000, presumably in response to the perception of youth as disengaged from political involvement. Many of the new curricula subsequently emphasize ‘active’ engagement within the polity. The central task of this paper is to better understand what such ‘active citizenship’ actually means, via the methodological tool of discourse analysis. Engaging a theoretical frame that incorporates Foucauldian governmentality theory and cultural theories of the role of the state in creating subjectivities, the paper ultimately argues that the ‘active citizen’ of contemporary civics curricula is, in fact, a deeply neoliberal subject. The article then draws on feminist theories of citizenship in order to assess the forms of exclusion that the curriculum documents inadvertently create, arguing that they ultimately participate in a long tradition of devaluing such elements of citizenship as relationality and emotional ties. We conclude that one of the fundamental goals of citizenship education – to expand access to citizenship participation for all – has failed

Active citizenship · Citizenship · Civics · Curriculum · Governmentality · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Law

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub