Citizenship Education and the Personalization of Democracy

Hubert J.M. Hermans, Rob Bartels

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780367467906
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000283709
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The core message of this educational book is that democracy is, more than ever before, in need of the personal contribution of engaged citizens. Democracy is viable only if it is rooted in the hearts and minds of citizens who feel responsible not only for their own well-being, but also for the quality of social relationships in a society with marked differences in race, religion, culture, and gender.

Three basic features define personalized democracy: A critical attitude not only towards others but also towards oneself; learning not only from others but also from oneself; and participation in society with attention to the contradictive nature of one's own mind. The authors emphasize that the development of personalized democracy and global citizenship requires participation at different identity levels: I as individual, we as members of social groups, we as part of humanity, and we as part of the earth. Written for future teachers at secondary level, the book contains dialogical self theory, research and a wide range of exercises.

PART 1

Opposition

1

I-POSITIONS: WHO ARE YOU AND
WHERE ARE YOU?

In this first chapter we are going to investigate the meaning of “I-positions.” Our “I” manifests itself in different situations in different ways—in other words, in different positions. Those different positions occur because our “I” does not always stand in the same relation to other people, who themselves also occupy their own I-positions. Other individuals can awaken different I-positions in us. How does this work? What is the meaning of the notion of an I-position?

From Your Own Experience

We are frequently aware of how other people think about us and perceive us. When you have to give a presentation in class, or when you have a job interview, you are not just thinking about what you should say, but also about how you would like others to perceive you, and what they think about you. Am I easy-going enough? Will they think of me as someone who is very motivated? Hopefully they will not notice that I am shy or timid. In fact, we frequently encounter situations in which we want other people to think differently about us compared to the image we have of ourselves.

Try to describe a situation—not that long ago—when you wanted to display a different image of yourself to other individuals.

Try to describe that situation in some catchy phrases:

• What kind of situation was it?
• Who was involved?
• Which characteristics of yourself did you want to show to others?
• Which specific characteristics did you want to emphasize in that situation?
• Was it difficult for you to do so?
• Do you think you were as successful as you wanted in how you came across to other individuals?
• Looking back on this situation, can you tell if you were yourself in that moment? Or in fact not? And why do you think this was the case?

Background Information

What is an I-position?

Suppose you are in contact with someone who asks for your help. If you agree to help that person, then you present yourself as a “helping person” or “facilitator.” In another situation, you experience a conflict with another person and you let her know that you fundamentally disagree with her. And again in another situation, you are fascinated by the story that this other person tells, and you show your interest via your body language and your verbal comments. These are three examples of situations in which you “position” yourself in a certain way with regard to another person. To position yourself means that you assume a certain stance toward another individual. Depending on the specific situation, those positions can vary enormously in scope. In the above-mentioned examples you are, in succession, in different I-positions: “I as helper,” “I as disagreeing,” and “I as interested listener.” These are examples of the various ways in which you relate to your social environment.

And, vice versa, other people can also position themselves in different ways towards you. The person to whom you position yourself as a helper might indicate that he very much likes the help you are offering. He is then in the position of “I as thankful.” But it can also happen that this person feels uncomfortable with your offer of help. Giving help is often easier than receiving help. People often feel there is an expectation of a reward when help is offered to them. In that case, the person is grateful for your offer to help but cannot accept it. In the other example, in which you take a “disagreeing” stance, the other person can react as a “yes-man,” but it can also be the case that he positions himself as a die-hard opponent. What develops depends on which position you assume and the position that the other person chooses in response to it. The response of the other person we call a “counter-position.” Broadly defined, a counter-position is a response that is, more or less, different from one’s own position. A counter-position can, in certain circumstances, be described as constructive and cooperative, but in other circumstances it can take the form of a conflict or sharp disagreement and can even lead to escalation. To assume certain I-positions is part and parcel of a process of positioning and counter-positioning.

Positioning in Relation to Yourself

An essential ingredient in the theory that this book proposes is that we are not only positioning ourselves relative to other individuals, but also within ourselves. Consider the example of the person who politely refuses your offer to help him. Something is going on in the inner self of this person. For instance, he appreciates your offer to help and would really like to accept it, but he has a problem with developing a dependency-relation. The position “I as receiving help” gets a counter-reaction to the position “I as an independent individual.” If the latter position manifests itself as a stronger one, he will politely refuse your offer of help. The same process of positioning and counter-positioning can also play a role in your inner self.

Moreover, I-positions are not independent of each other. Just as a society consists of multiple individuals, with some more influential than others, the self is occupied by numerous I-positions in which some positions can dominate others. We can illustrate this with the following example. You are listening to someone who is giving a very elaborate monologue, and that other person doesn’t care much if you want to hear all that she is saying. If you follow your impulse, you would say “this doesn’t interest me at all.” This position gets overshadowed by “I as a polite listener.” This person is important to you, and you want to give her the opportunity to tell her story. And thus you let her continue on with her monologue. A more extreme example is where a person is addicted to games, drugs, certain kinds of food, or buying stuff, or is no longer able to resist the seductive power of social media. This can result in an inner conflict. On one hand you are saying to yourself: I want to be free and determine for myself what I want or choose. On the other hand, you are no longer able to control yourself and you become engulfed in an addiction. In that case, the position of “I as master of myself” becomes dominated by “I as addicted” (assuming that you have the courage to acknowledge this to yourself). The counter-position, “master over myself,” is no longer capable of keeping itself under control or correcting the undesirable position of “I as addicted.”

Figure 1.1 What is democracy?

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Being Positioned by the Other

We not only position ourselves with regard to other individuals, we also get positioned by other individuals. Someone might give me a compliment for something that I have accomplished, and then I feel appreciated (“I as good”). However, if somebody accuses me of something, then that person positions himself as an accuser. And this can then lead to a counter-position from my side: I become defensive or even attack the other person. What is happening here is a process in which you get positioned by someone else whereupon you respond with a counter-position. This is an exchange between two persons. But assume that a possible counter-attack from my side gets paralyzed by my own fear. I then get confronted by an inner counter-position that can be so dominating that it blocks my original impulse to take up a counter-attack position. Here too we notice the close relationship between positioning and being positioned, a process that takes place not only between people but also within our own inner make-up. What happens between individuals reflects what takes place inside our inner selves. These two processes jointly determine the actual behavior of people in relation to their social environment.

The Role of the Other within Yourself

The advantage of the concept of I-position is that we can involve the other person in our own self-esteem and in our self-narrative. It means that another person can function as an I-position in your own self. Here is an example: At a very young age we are so involved with our parents or our teachers that they assume a position in our own selves. The same process happens with family members, friends, colleagues, and new acquaintances. You can have the feeling that at certain moments you act like your father, your mother, your sister, brother, or girlfriend. The other person enters into the center of your own universe. Sometimes you can even feel what another significant person is feeling. Sometimes you will notice: “I now talk just like my father.” It can happen that a counter-response arises immediately: “But I only want to be different and react differently!” This is the dynamic interplay of position and counter-position. To establish your own identity, it is necessary that you differentiate your own I-position from the I-position of the other person in yourself. Just think how one of your parents can be so dominant in the organization of your inner make-up that you do not know if it is you yourself who wants something, or the mother-in-yourself or the father-in yourself who wants it. Some people choose a career or study that seems to originate in their own selves, but later they come to realize that the choice they made was determined more by an external position that was interiorized in themselves, than from an I-position that occurred within their own autonomy. In that case a learning process is required to make a distinction between the other-in-myself and the position you take as I-myself.

Figure 1.2 Others as external I-positions in ourselves

Drawing by Diederik Grootjans (reproduced with permission)

For our own personal development, it is good to realize that we are not just completely isolated individuals, but that the other is simultaneously living in ourselves. This can happen in a very positive way. Just think about people who we greatly admire or who function as models: A family member, a person of the stature of a Mandela¹ or Malala Yousafzai², an inspiring teacher, or a pop star. In the theory of this book we consider a significant other as “another I.” This was established long ago by the Greek philosopher Aristotle: In his book Nicomachean ethics (Pakaluk, 2005), dedicated to his son, he proposed that you develop the highest level of a relationship with another person when you consider the other as an “alter ego.” In the other person you recognize yourself (ego) while at the same time you acknowledge them as someone who is different from you (alter). If you can understand this idea and are able to experience it, then, according to Aristotle, you achieve the highest form of friendship.

Summarizing

• An I-position refers to the way in which you position yourself in relation to other people and yourself.
• We can assume multiple I-positions that are inter-related to each other. Also, one position can, at different times, be more dominant in the self than the others.
• We not only position ourselves, but we get positioned by others as well.
• As a response to being positioned by other persons, we can invoke a counter-position in ourselves and therefore we will never be fully determined as positioned by the other person.
• The other person can function as an I-position in our own self. Ideally, the other functions as an alter ego. We recognize ourselves (ego) in the other, but at the same time we also realize that this person is different from us (alter).

Critical questions

The theory we describe here is an invitation to you to use it as a “lens” through which to look at yourself in a new way, and to consider how this might influence your interaction with other individuals. The questions “Who am I?” or “What is my identity?” get answered by the claim that you don’t have only one identity, but multiple different identities in the form of I-positions that are different and even contradictory. This is not a static view of the self, but a dynamic process of positioning and counter-positioning.

• What do you think of this proposition? What reasons would you give to convince other people that you have only one identity, or conversely that you have different and multiple identities, without being “schizophrenic”?
• Can you find in the text parts that, according to you, do not cover the subjects or are not completely accurate? Can you say in your own words what you think is missing? How would you argue against it? And what reasons can you give for that point of view?
• Have you ever experienced that another person is functioning as part of yourself? In the text we mention that this can occur through the presence of the other person in yourself (e.g., “my father in myself”). Do you think this statement is correct, or do you think other factors might play a role? How can we find out what those factors are?

Exercise

I-positions and counter-positions arise in the interaction with other people, people with whom we have different kinds of interactions. I-positions can also relate to a position you occupy in society, the role you play in it. We all are citizens of a country, but we are also consumers, and many of us are also students, or employees. So for most of us additional I-positions exist, depending on the roles you play in society. Can you describe some of your own I-positions? These I-positions do not have to be compatible. As a consumer and as a citizen you have diff...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Boxes
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• PART 1 Opposition
• PART 2 Cooperation
• PART 3 Participation
• References
• Appendix
• Index