ABSTRACT

This paper argues that analyzing education policies through the lens of affect theory provides possibilities for understanding how particular concepts are associated with certain affective ideologies. To illustrate this, the paper analyzes the case of a recent publication by the Council of Europe titled Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture. The analysis shows how various concepts related to ‘democratic competences’ are invested with affective meanings, cultural connotations and political rhetoric. The paper argues that democratic competences are effectively conflated with emotional competences, opening up an analysis of democratic education as a form of individual and psychological therapy. The conclusion addresses the implications of this argument for education policy research and practice. In particular, it highlights the importance of paying attention not only to the ways that affect shapes the production of policy text, but also how a policy seeks to invoke certain affective dispositions at the point of enactment.

摘要

本文认为，从情感理论的角度分析教育政策为理解特定概念如何与某些情感意识形态相关联提供了可能性。为了说明这一点，本文分析了欧洲委员会最近出版的题为“民主文化能力参考框架”的案例. 分析显示了与“民主能力”相关的各种概念如何被赋予情感意义、文化内涵和政治修辞。本文认为，民主能力与情感能力有效地混为一谈，开启了对民主教育作为一种个人和心理治疗形式的分析。结论阐述了这一论点对教育政策研究和实践的影响。特别是，它强调了不仅要关注影响政策文本产生的方式的重要性，而且还要关注政策如何在制定时寻求调用某些情感倾向。