European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

DILEMMAS AND TASK IN THE FORMATION OF EDUCATION-BASED ... 161European society, and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity nolonger closely define our own behavioural expectations —or those thatare imposed on us by others. The end of the European overseasempires has resulted in a new set of roles, less certain than before,between the former colonial powers and the former colonies, andbetween the peoples of both. Globalisation and the growth of multinationalbusiness has left national states less able to defend their ownsocial and economic interests, and enmeshed more and more firmly in theeconomic world system —and this internationalisation of trade,commerce and culture makes for further imprecision about how wedefine ourselves. Finally, and not least, the advent of the new informationcommunication technologies mean that the individual no longer needsubscribe to either local or to mass cultures in the same way as wasnecessary in the past: we can personalise our own individual culturalreferences. The rise of a pervasive consumer culture has led to agreater focus on individualism. Identity now becomes multiple, andmore contingent and situational.Because of these changes, children and young people who arecurrently being educated, and those in the future, are likely to have avery different civic relationship between themselves as individuals andtheir society. This will not be the same citizenship, or the same kind ofidentity, as that of their parents or teachers —or politicians. Thoseresponsible for the social education of the young will need to reflecton, but not simply reflect, the social relationships of earlier ages. Thishas implications, challenges and problems for educators. Teachingchildren to be ready for new and changing social structures, groupingsand identities will be difficult enough, but educators may also beworking in tension with some of the beliefs, values and wishes ofchildren’s parents and other members of the older generations. Thetask for educators is one of transformation, not reproduction, ofcreating the new, not filling children up with the old. This is, in a veryreal sense, a political task.Harold Lasswell, the American political psychologists, definedpolitics as «Who gets what, when, how» (Lasswell, 1936). Who shouldget citizenship education? Who should give it? When should it begiven? What should it consist of? How should it be given?Who should get it is clear: this is a political decision —it is foreveryone. Any form of democracy requires an informed and participatingcitizenry. Any form of citizenship education must be for all children andyoung people (and, indeed, for all adults). This also implies, incidentally,that it is an area in which we also desire all to be successful in theirlearning. We do not want courses of study that result in failure —this