Chantal Mouffe

Deliberative Teaching as an Emergent Field: The Challenge of Articulating Diverse Research Agendas to Promote Educational Experiences for Citizenship

“…Deliberative teaching as pedagogical experiences could be accused of idealism and liberalism, and for good reason. Authors have warned against deliberative pedagogies as disciplining practices for a liberal view of citizens ( DesRoches and Ruitenberg, 2018 ). Michaels et al (2008) highlight the real experiences of deliberation in classrooms in which social and cultural capital (see Dubet, 2004 ; Bourdieu, 2011 ) could differentially shape students’ participation and, in turn, reproduce pre-existing inequalities.…”

“…Democracy needs not only an electoral regime and institutional guarantee of human and civil rights, or “politics” – according to Mouffe (2014) – but also “the political,” that is, civic practices involved in the unfolding of power, particularly practices of dispute and dealing with conflicts. According to an agonistic notion of democracy (see DesRoches and Ruitenberg, 2018 , p. 150), strong democracies, in whatever form, need citizens to be engaged in embodying their often conflicting and contradictory interests and struggling to exercise their rights to participate in and dispute decision making from different social identities and voices. Consequently, we understand the difference, tension, disagreement, and contradiction, not as a flaw of democracies but as one of their conditions: “It is only when the ineradicable character of division and antagonism is recognized that it is possible to think in a properly political manner and to face the challenge confronting democratic politics.”…”

“…Authors, such as Kurian et al (2014) , have pointed to the role that dialectical deliberation plays in sustainable citizenship, or the deliberation of key controversies as the foundation of citizenship practices, which resonates with a deliberative notion of democracy. Therefore, regardless of whether or not a deliberative democracy is realistic or desirable (see Ryfe, 2005 ; DesRoches and Ruitenberg, 2018 ), it is clear that specific individual and social competencies are needed to make our political and environmental worlds sustainable. These competencies include, but are not necessarily limited to: being engaged and willing to participate; being able to argue our points and dispute our interests; being able to understand and evaluate possible arguments; recognizing and conceding others’ good arguments; being strategic in arguments and understanding others’ strategies; articulating with different people; representing and legitimating others’ worldviews; understanding and legitimating different types of knowledge; selecting epistemic authorities to trust in; and positioning ourselves as political and emotional actors among others.…”

Discourse, Conversation and Argumentation: Theoretical Perspectives and Innovative Empirical Studies - Volume I

“…Deliberative teaching as pedagogical experiences could be accused of idealism and liberalism, and for good reason. Authors have warned against deliberative pedagogies as disciplining practices for a liberal view of citizens (DesRoches and Ruitenberg, 2018). highlight the real experiences of deliberation in classrooms in which social and cultural capital (see Dubet, 2004;Bourdieu, 2011) could differentially shape students' participation and, in turn, reproduce pre-existing inequalities.…”