Abstract
This article will examine the consequences of highlighting ‘subject and difference’ in one of the curriculum theories that has been inspired by postmodernism. The term postmodernism is here first and foremost meant to signify the attempt to combine politics and morality with epistemology in accordance with Levinas, Lyotard and Bauman. The article will highlight some themes that need to be developed further for a postmodernism-inspired curriculum theory. A starting-point is a critique of the type of curriculum theory which has its base in “the new sociology of education”. From this critique, focused on universal claims, the Habermasian-inspired universalism is quickly and critically dropped and left behind, and another form of reasoning is embarked upon. The latter is inspired by a ‘minotarian politics’ concept and tries to dissolve universalism as a prerequisite for critical conversations. With this background and with the help of Levinas, the article sets out to talk about ‘difference’ without reduction to the Same and finally suggest a direction for a postmodern curriculum theory with a ‘normative’ focus on knowledge.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bauman, Z.: 1996, Postmodern etik, Daidalos, Göteborg.
Baynes, K., Bohman, J. and MacCarthy, T. (eds.): 1987, After Philosophy. End or Transformation, The MIT Press, Massachusetts.
Benhabib, S.: 1994, Autonomi och gemenskap. Kommunikativ etik, feminism och postmodernism. Daidalos, Göteborg.
Bernstein, B.: 1971, 'On the Classification and Framing of Educational Knowledge', in M. Young (ed.), Knowledge and Control. New Directions for the Sociology of Education, Collier/Macmillan, London.
Bernstein, R.J.: 1983, Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science Hermenuetics and Praxis, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Biesta, G.: 1995, 'Postmodernism and the Repolitization of Education', Interchange, 2, 161-183.
Callewaert, S. and Nilsson, B.: 1979, Samhället, skolan och skolans inre arbete, Lunds bok och tidskrift AB, Lund.
Carlgren, I. and Kallós, D.: 1996, The End of Idealism or Whatever Happened to the Swedish Comprehensive School? Further Lesson from a Comprehensive Schoolsystem for Curriculum Theory and Research. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of AERA, New York, April 8-12.
Cherryholmes, C.: 1988, Power and Criticism. Poststructural Investigations in Education, Teacher College Press, New York.
Davidson, D.: 1985, 'On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme', in J. Rachman and C. West (eds.), Post-analytic Philosophy, Columbia University Press, New York.
Dewey, J.: 1980 [1934], Art as Experience, Perigee, New York.
Doll, W.A.: 1993, A Postmodern Perspective on Curriculum, Teacher College Press, New York/London.
Durkeim, E.: 1956 [1922], Education and Sociology, Free Press, New York.
Durkheim, E.: 1933, The Division of Labour in Society, Maxmillian, New York.
Elster, J.: 1986, Vetenskapliga förklaringar, Bokförlaget Korpen, Göteborg.
Englund, T.: 1986, Curriculum as a Political Problem. Changing Educational Conceptions, with Special Reference to Citizenship Education, Uppsala Studies in Education 25, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studentlitteratur/Chartwell Bratt Ltd, Lund.
Englund, T.: 1990, 'På väg mot en pedagogisk dynamisk analys av innehållet', Forskning om utbildning, 1, 19-35.
Englund, T.: 1992, 'Text och kontext-om didaktikens nuläge och framgångsvägar', Utbildning och demokrati, 2, 2-9.
Habermas, J.: 1987, 'Questions and Counterquestions', in R.J. Bernstein (ed.), Habermas and Modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge, pp. 192-216.
Haberma, J.: 1990, Kommunikativt handlande. Texter om språk, rationalitet och samhälle, Daidalos, Göteborg.
Habermas, J.: 1995, Diskurs, rätt och demokrati, Daidalos, Göteborg.
Habermas, J.: 1996, Between Facts and Norms, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Heller, A. and Fehér, F.: 1991, The Postmodern Political Condition, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Johansson, I. and Liedman, S.-E.: 1981, Positivism och marxism, Nordstedt, Stockholm.
Karabel, J. and Halsey, A.H.: 1977, Power and Ideology in Education, Oxford University Press, New York.
Kallós, D. and Lundgren, U.P.: 1979, Curriculum as a Pedagogical Problem, Studies in Curriculum Theory and Cultural Reproduction 4, Department of Educational Research, Stockholm Institute of Education.
Kemp, P.: 1992, Emmanuel Levinas. En introduktion, Daidalos, Göteborg.
Lather, P.: 1996, Methodology as Subversive Repetition: Practices Toward a Feminist Double Science. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of AERA, New York, April 8-12.
Levinas, E.: 1994, Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence, Klywer, Dordrecht.
Levinas, E.: 1998, Of God Who Comes to Mind, (translated by Bettina Bergo), Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
Liedman, S-E.: 1999, I skuggan av framtiden. Modernitetens idéhistoria, Albert Bonniers förlag, Stockholm.
Ljunggren, C.: 1996, Medborgarpubliken och det offentliga rummet, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala Studies in Education 68, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm.
Lyotard, J.F.: 1997 [1979], The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Theory and History of Literature, Volyme 10, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Lyotard, J.F.: 1982, 'A Svelte Appendix to the Postmodern Question', in J.F. Lyotard (ed.) (translation by B. Readings and K.P. Geiman), Political Writings, 1993, UCL Press, London, pp. 25-29.
Lyotard, J.F.: 1983, 'The Tomb of the Intellectual', in J.F. Lyotard (ed.), Political Writings, 1993, UCL Press, London, pp. 3-7.
Lövlie, L.: 1992, 'Postmodernisme, språg og filosofi', in E.L. Dale, (ed.), Pedagogisk filosofi, Ad Notam Gyldendal, Oslo, pp. 233-253.
Mannheim, K.: 1968, Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.
Molander, B.: 1996, Kunskap i handling, Daidalos, Göteborg.
Popkewitz, T.: 1997, 'The Curriculum Theory Tradition: Studies in the Social/Cultural and Political Contexts of Pedagogical Practices', in K.E. Rosengren and B. Öhngren (eds.), An Evaluation of Swedish Research in Education, HSFR, Stockholm.
Readings, B.: 1993, 'The End of the Political', in J.F. Lyotard (ed.), Political Writings, UCL Press, London, pp. xiii-xxvi.
Rorty, R.: 1980, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Blackwell, Oxford.
Rorty, R.: 1987a, 'Pragmatism and Philosophy', in K. Baynes, J. Bohman and T. MacCarthy (ed.), After Philosophy. End or Transformation, The MIT Press, Massachusetts, pp. 26-66.
Rorty, R.: 1987b, 'Habermas and Lyotard on Postmodernity', in R. Bernstein (ed.), Habermas and Modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge, pp. 161-175.
Said, E.: 1995, Kultur och imperialism, Ordfront, Stockholm.
Säfström, C.A.: 1994, Makt och mening. Förutsättningar för en innehållsfokuserad pedagogisk forskning, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala Studies in Education 53, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm.
Säfström, C.A.: 1998, 'Läroplansteori-nostalgi eller nytänkande?', Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige, 2, 130-141.
Säfström, C.A.: 1999, 'Educational Theory and Communicative Identity in an Ethical Space', in C.A. Säfström (ed.), Identity. Questioning the Logic of Identity Within Educational Theory, Studentlitteratur, Lund.
Young, M.: 1971, Knowledge and Control. New Directions for the Sociology of Education, Collier/Macmillan, London.
Wittgenstein, L.: 1992 [1953], Filosofiska undersökningar, Thales, Stockholm.
Östman, L.: 1995, Socialisation och mening. No-utbildning some politiskt och miljömoraliskt problem, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Uppsala Studies in Education 61, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Säfström, C.A. On the Way to a Postmodern Curriculum Theory -- Moving from the Question of Unity to the Question of Difference. Studies in Philosophy and Education 18, 221–233 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005241928581
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005241928581