Kozlova Maria

Moral foundations of the social policy in pedagogical discourse

Abstract

The article presents the results of analysis of moral aspects of the representation of the socially vulnerable groups in school textbooks. We consider the social classification as a factor that forms the social structure. The classification system is reflected in public discourse around issues of social policy, as having a moral dimension. It fixes codes of desirable and undesirable behavior, institutionalizes the behavioral practices and patterns of perception. The textbook becomes a tool for translation of existing practices to new generations. The empirical base of the study consisted of the textbooks on the subjects “World Around” (primary school) and “Social Science” (5-11 class). The set of textbooks for the elementary schools includes for the analysis 4 fragments, for grades 5-9 – 37 fragments, for grades 10-11 – 35 fragments. For characteristics of the articles were recorded 1) the objects (individuals and social groups or impersonal social structures), 2) causes and solutions. The consideration of the examples of vulnerable groups in school textbooks has allowed a) to trace changes in representation of themes in textbooks aimed at different age groups, b) to identify the degree of similarity in the representation of different groups, combined in the category of "social insecurity". A normalizing discourse is dominating in relation to the poor or unemployed. It attributes the actor's responsibility and guarantees equal access to important resources. People with disabilities, the elderly and single-parent families are represented in the discriminatory discourse, in which the individual represented as an object of care, or in the discourse of avoidance, aimed at the symbolic removing of the problem of reality.

Keywords

moral motives, socially vulnerable groups, school textbook, discourse analysis, social categorization, moral order, social policy

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Information about the author

Kozlova Maria

Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in History;
Place of work: National Research University Higher School of Economics; 9, Mjasnitskaya str., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation;
ORCID: 0000-0001-5516-2611;
Email: makozlova@yandex.ru.

*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.

Acknowledgments

Исследование выполнено в рамках Программы фундаментальных исследований Национального исследовательского университета «Высшая школа экономики» (НИУ ВШЭ) и с использованием средств субсидии на государственную поддержку ведущих университетов Российской Федерации в целях повышения их конкурентоспособности среди ведущих мировых научно-образовательных центров, выделенной НИУ ВШЭ