The democratisation of the education system in France after the Second World War: A neo-Weberian glocal approach to education reforms

Julia Resnik*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

The structural reforms of the education system in France (1959, 1963, and 1975) were part both of a global process of democratisation of education launched after the Second World War and of a larger modernisation project in which knowledge producers (experts, scholars and consultants) played a crucial role. Instead of a national approach or a world system approach to education reforms I propose a neo-Weberian glocal perspective that focuses on knowledge producers as a status group, education discourse structuration and education global networks; this perspective integrates national contexts and their peculiarities in the analysis without losing sight of the global forces. Global education networks centered in international organisations - such as UNESCO and the OECD - in which French knowledge-producers were largely involved, adopted a discourse inspired by the American school model that was adopted by scholars in different countries. The reformist network, in which scholars, experts and policy makers participated, enhanced reformist discourse structuration in the knowledge-production institutions (universities and national institutes) around social problems such as 'technological and scientific lag', 'inequality of opportunity', and 'disenchantment from the education system', thus, fostering transformations of the French education system.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)155-181
Number of pages27
JournalBritish Journal of Educational Studies
Volume55
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2007

Keywords

  • Democratisation
  • French education system
  • Global education
  • Reformist discourse
  • Weber

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