Εκπαιδευτική διαμεσολάβηση σε διαφοροποιημένες αφηγήσεις για την κουλτούρα της ευτυχίας

Abstract

New forms of discourse in the political setting are reproduced by the economic crisis. Narratives in education are the outcome of combining elements which emphasize social and cultural reproduction in new terms. The individual is put in a process of transforming thoughts and emotions and of establishing the self while happiness is sought after among apolitical meanings. Changing the economic paradigm points at intensified social inequalities namely decreased social mobility and concurrent increase of marginalized people. A social world is explicitly or implicitly established by the educational system on the basis of knowledge and representations reflecting the defined reality. Individual-enhancing personal courses are reinforced by the structure of the educational system. Upper social strata are strengthened by their choices, defining happiness in their own terms and reassuring their class role through imposed authoritative relations and dominance structures. The educational system is entrapped in a political disorientation, while everyday reality situations are becoming meaningless towards the formation of vague schemata of happiness and failure. In this respect, individual effort is emphasized while social contracts, political situations and social identities, all being part of an active political environment, are rejected. Education could play an intervening, mediating role with concentration on reflective in-action by affecting people’s behavior and giving different meaning to happiness through the construction of messages associating happiness with political action. Within a political ideological paradigm, curriculum reformation, the political approach of reality and shift from superficial meanings to hidden political codes will be conducive to shaping instrumental and expressional orientations into political humanistic values.