This seminar explores the different meanings of social cohesion in historical and contemporary societies and identifies some different ‘regimes of social cohesion,’ and their characteristics, that can be found in western and East Asian societies. Long-term historical factors have shaped the distinct traditions of thought on social cohesion in different regions and since World War Two three main models have emerged in the West, which can be distinguished by the distinctive underlying institutional structures and their dominant value systems.

Biographies

Professor Andy Green – http://www.ioe.ac.uk/staff/LCEN/LCEN_11.html

Dr Germ Janmaat – http://www.ioe.ac.uk/study/LCEN_18.html

The seminar for LLAKES and the Citizenship SIG will focus on Faas’ recently released book entitled Negotiating Political Identities: Multiethnic Schools and Youth in Europe. The book proceeds from the notion that globalization, European integration, and migration are challenging national identities and changing education across Europe. The nation-state no longer serves as the sole locus of civic participation and identity formation, and no longer has the influence it once had over the implementation of policies. Drawing on rich empirical data from four schools in Germany and Britain, he shows how schools mediate government policies, creating distinct educational contexts that shape youth identity negotiation and integration processes. The study is the first of its kind to bring together between-country and within-country differences in identity formation among young people. By delving into the discourses of ethnic majority and Turkish minority youth, the book unravels a wide range of factors shaping contemporary identities and offers new insights into the particular role school policy approaches play in this process. The book situates these discussions within broader European and transatlantic theoretical and empirical debates on immigrant incorporation and offers a much-needed synthesis of European and American scholarship. The presentation will highlight some key findings from the fieldwork in Germany and Britain and will discuss the relevance and implications of these findings for school policy approaches and the wider debate on immigrant incorporation.

Biography

Daniel Faas (Ph.D., M.Phil. University of Cambridge, M.A. University of Stuttgart) is Lecturer in Sociology and Erasmus and Visiting Student Coordinator at Trinity College Dublin.

His research and teaching interests include migration and education policies, citizenship and identity politics, European integration and globalisation, multiculturalism and social cohesion, ethnicity and racism, economic and social aspects of integration, and comparative case study methodologies. He has published a number of articles on these and related topics in edited books and in international journals and is the author of ‘Negotiating Political Identities: Multiethnic Schools and Youth in Europe’ (Ashgate, March 2010).