Social Imaginaries and Possibilism in State Schooling

Synonyms

Pragmatism, Rationalization, Rationality, Realism

Introduction

This entry considers first, the purpose of state schooling as modern social imaginary; second, selected examples of contemporary possibilism in schooling policy and practice; third, some of the theoretical and empirical flaws in possibilism; and finally, a productive distinction between possibilism as rationality and possibilism as rationalization.

The term “modern social imaginary” was coined by the Canadian hermeneutic philosopher Charles Taylor (2004) to convey the ways in which societies imagine, idealize, and attempt to realize themselves in both moral and practical terms. The social imaginary comprises three spheres through which these occur; namely, the economy, the public sphere, and self-governance. All three may be said to be relevant to a theoretical analysis of “state” or “public” schooling systems. From an administrative perspective, these systems comprise: (i) their constituent policy ensembles,...