Cultural Education : On Cultural Relations in Texts about School and Education

The aim of this thesis is to clarify different ideas about cultural relations expressed in the Swedish curriculum, and the potential consequences they may have for children and young people to participate as peers in social and public life. Located at the intersection of a (neo)pragmatic curriculum theory tradition and cultural studies/critical pedagogy, the ambition with the study is two-folded: (1) to clarify the theoretical conditions for cultural relations from an ethnocentric, global, and multicultural perspective and (2) to elucidate and describe the curriculum historical preconditions for cultural relations. In relation to perspectives and analytical tools developed in paper I-III, the investigations show that the cultural thinking in education rests on a liberal and humanistic view with a polite response and a neutral approach that never seems to exceed the comfort zone. A central finding is that there is a need to examine the priviliged position further. The study also demonstrates how the nature of cultural thinking has changed over time. Based on the dominant conceptions four discourses during 1962-2008 are distinguished: A National Discourse in the 60's, a Rational Discourse in the 70's, a Cultural Discourse in the 80-90's and a Pluralistic Neo-national Discourse in the 90-00's. The main conclusion is that despite different rationality the thinking never goes beyond a non-defined and unarticulated "we" and a designated, labelled and well-defined "them". The Swedish curriculum is a curriculum of othering that hardly provides the basis for relations where children and young people can participate as peers. To achieve a more reciprocal relationship, over-recognition of "the others" needs to be toned down, and the special status of the privileged position has to be analyzed in greater extent.