Models of educational and occupational socialization today: from loss of historical memory to rhetorical optimism?

Abstract

This article draws on sociological sources critical of transnational and national political discourse on teaching influenced by the third way (the interventionist welfare state) to examine how socialization is constructed politically through the concept of life-long-learning. In the context of policies which advocate new forms of governance and the use of experts in assessing schooling systems, political discourse combines uncritical optimism with historical forgetfulness. The chosen method of analysis uses a constructivist definition of socialization to select the moment when social reality is objectified (institutionalized structures and socialization mecahnisms) and to focus on the historical roots of this «education throughout life».