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Understanding the Mutual Vulnerability and Relevance of Inequality in Negotiations of Authority between Pupil and Teachers
Dr Florian Weitkämper, University of Education Freiburg, Germany
Location: PCN 2012, 6445 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC
Date: Thu, March 28th, 2024 – 9 to 10:30 am
In my presentation I will show that inequality, authority, and vulnerability are mutually interdependent. Fundamentally, authority is a central issue for teachers and refers to the leadership relationship between teachers and pupils to initiate learning. A review of the current state of research shows that authority and social inequality have rarely been investigated so far. This is the starting point of the presented ethnographic research project. It is interested in a sociological and socio-philosophical perspective, in line with Bourdieu and especially Butler, on the relevance of social background in negotiations of authority between pupils and teachers in inclusive primary schools in Germany. In the sense of the developed concept of an un/doing authority, it is shown that especially in these interactions the aspect of vulnerability is very important.
Thereby I will show the following: The process of reciprocal denial of authority as well as the staging of refusal of authority seems to reveal a specific mechanism of inequality: In the process of an ‘un/doing authority’, teachers and pupils establish the boundaries of legitimate behaviour in relation to each other’s vulnerability. These processes can reflect and trace existing social inequalities, contributing to their reinforcement, or create new educational inequalities through practices of difference. The relationship with ‘bad’ pupils shows a mutual violation that can be understood as a re-enactment of social inequalities and future educational exclusion.
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Dr Florian Weitkämper is an assistant professor at the University of Education Freiburg, Germany. His research covers the areas of qualitative difference, inclusion and inequality research, pedagogical action in social power relations and qualitative social research with a focus on ethnography. He completed his PhD, funded by a doctoral scholarship from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, in 2018 with his thesis “Teachers and Social Inequality”.