ABSTRACT

The article offers a normatively-informed theorization of people-making as a (blocked) collective learning process. More specifically, people-making, namely the mobilization of individuals into a collective actor, draws symbolic boundaries around the sovereign, thereby contributing to the imagination of ‘the people’ in more inclusionary or exclusionary ways. To account for differences along this continuum, Habermas’ notion of collective learning is introduced, resulting in the conceptualization of inclusionary (exclusionary) people-making in terms of (blocked) collective learning processes. The authors supplement Habermas’ account and situate it in the context of people-making by arguing that shared stories, in particular their underlying genres, can produce more or less (un)certainty, which in turn enables or blocks collective learning processes. Drawing on Frye, four genres are distinguished: romance, comedy, tragedy and irony. The theorization of how genres are variously associated with uncertainty leads to the argument that mobilizations drawing on romance and, to a lesser extent, comedy can be expected to block collective learning processes, thus to be more exclusionary. In contrast, mobilizations relying on irony and, to a lesser extent, tragedy, can be expected to enable collective learning, thus to be more inclusionary.

摘要

这篇文章提供了一种规范的理论，将人的塑造作为一个（受阻的）集体学习过程。更具体地说，人民塑造，即动员个人成为集体行动者，在主权周围划定象征性界限，从而以更具包容性或排斥性的方式促进“人民”的想象力。为了解释这一连续体的差异，引入了哈贝马斯的集体学习概念，从而产生了在（受阻碍的）集体学习过程中包容性（排他性）造人的概念。作者对哈贝马斯的解释进行了补充，并将其置于造人的背景下，认为共享的故事，特别是其潜在的类型，可以产生或多或少的（不）确定性，这反过来又促进或阻碍集体学习过程。借鉴弗莱的思想，区分了四种类型：浪漫、喜剧、悲剧和讽刺。关于类型如何与不确定性相关的理论化导致了这样的论点：利用浪漫和较小程度的喜剧的动员可能会阻碍集体学习过程，从而更具排他性。相比之下，依靠讽刺和较小程度的悲剧的动员有望促进集体学习，从而更具包容性。