‘Being’ and ‘becoming’ a welfare citizen in the Danish Folkeskole

Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic investigation into the ‘bringing about’ of the Danish welfare citizen as observed through everyday values and practices in the Danish folkeskole. The thesis takes as its starting point the notion of dannelse, which is the ’holistic formation of social human beings who can manage their own lives, who know how to behave properly in society, and how to fit in with each other’ (Jenkins 2011:187) and hygge (cosiness), as the primary frameworks through which Danishness can be understood. While trying to unravel what these values/practices are and how they were expressed and inculcated in the everyday lived reality at the Danish folkeskole, I observed the importance of several other key concepts, including lighed (equality as expressed through sameness), and medborgerskab (co-­‐citizenship). This thesis will attempt to understand the importance of these concepts in relation to wider Danish society, and as defining features on the ‘citizenship-­‐journey’ that the Danish folkeskole in this thesis represents. I will argue that the Danish folkeskole to some degree exemplifies a ‘playpen of democracy’ (Korsgaard 2008) as it exists as a liminal sphere, both in terms of providing a space in which students can practice ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ welfare citizens, but more crucially also as a space in-­‐between the public and the private sphere, a home-­‐ away-­‐from-­‐home. This is achieved through notions of hygge to provide the safe and bounded space that is necessary to secure a conducive learning environment in which students can obtain a shared ideological understanding of the world, and hence an equal starting point. Finally, my thesis will focus on the interaction between and value connotations of concepts such as diversity, difference, individuality, inequality and heterogeneity. I am principally interested in demonstrating how these exist in a dynamic relationship with concepts such as equality, similarity, homogeneity and a sense of ‘we/us’ as Danish, and subsequently as democratic welfare citizens.