Ahearne, Jeremy (2011) Designs on the popular : framings of general, universal and common culture in French educational policy. International Journal of Cultural Policy, Vol.17 (No.4). pp. 421-437. doi:10.1080/10286632.2010.549560 ISSN 1477-2833.

Preview

PDF WRAP_Ahearne_9371257-fr-160412-rev_designs_on_the_popular.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (558Kb)

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

This article examines the culture-shaping strategies pursued through French educational policies. It
traces the process through which the republican education system claimed legitimacy to bring all
citizens into its universalising embrace, and to institute a form of national popular culture. At the
same time, the article shows how specifications of esoterically ‘universal’ and ‘general’ curricular
content were used to maintain barriers between elite and popular classes. The article then explores
endeavours since the 1940s to delineate more democratically framed notions of ‘general’ or
‘common’ culture, and the difficulties that have accompanied the integration of such perspectives
into mass secondary schooling since the 1960s. In particular, one sees in France persistent
disjunctions between the ‘universal’ cultures carried by academic curricula and contemporary
popular cultures and experience (though the balance of power between these poles has shifted in
some respects).

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) L Education > LB Theory and practice of education
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies > Centre for Cultural Policy Studies Faculty of Arts > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > French Studies
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	France -- Cultural policy, Education and state -- France, Popular culture -- France, Education, Secondary -- France
Journal or Publication Title:	International Journal of Cultural Policy
Publisher:	Routledge
Place of Publication:	London
ISBN:	9780415698078
ISSN:	1477-2833
Book Title:	Policy and the Popular
Editor:	Looseley , David
Official Date:	2011
Dates:	Date Event 2011 Published
Volume:	Vol.17
Number:	No.4
Number of Pages:	104
Page Range:	pp. 421-437
DOI:	10.1080/10286632.2010.549560
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit:	19 December 2015
Date of first compliant Open Access:	19 December 2015

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads