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Educating for Civil Solidarity in the Shadow of Discriminating Laws in a Multicultural Society: The Israeli Case as an Allegory

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Abstract

Solidarity between the citizens of a country is both good and desirable, and public educational institutions are the clear site of education for such civil solidarity and its natural place is in Civics lessons. Nevertheless, this paper argues that it is impossible to educate for solidarity for all citizens in a liberal-democratic state when civic classes teach basic civil laws that exclude groups or minorities and expel them from the general civil population. Therefore, we can ask: What are the modes of action that are open to Civics teachers and other educators who are caught in this trap when trying to educate for solidarity? As a reply to this question and by borrowing ideas from Michel Foucault’s thought, this paper equips teachers with some guidelines for pedagogical resistance to the excluding wave, that enable strengthening an inclusive civil solidarity, and demonstrates the applicability of these guidelines in the Israeli reality.

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Notes

  1. The state of Israel does not have a formal constitution, but its Basic Laws achieve a constitutional force above the regular statutes, and as such, they are included in Civics curriculum and textbooks (Ashkenazi et al. 2016).

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  1. Levinsky College of Education, 15 Shoshana Persits st., P.O.B. 48130, 61481, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Eran Gusacov

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Gusacov, E. Educating for Civil Solidarity in the Shadow of Discriminating Laws in a Multicultural Society: The Israeli Case as an Allegory. Stud Philos Educ 40, 317–335 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-020-09751-8

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