About the Seminar
In her famous book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Shoshana Zuboff (2019) draws on Émile Durkheim, arguing that in the current economic era, which she has named surveillance capitalism, division of learning has replaced division of the labor as a ground for the social and moral order of the society. The division of learning, according Zuboff (2019, 184), refers to social conditions in which learning, information, and knowledge are given priority to proper life. In line with this idea, both European and national political projects emphasize learning as both a moral and economic principle. For example, the policy project Lifelong Learning, which in the 1970s, aimed to promote citizens’ equal presence in a society, has been harnessed to promote economic competitiveness and social cohesion (e.g. Kauppila, Kinnari, & Niemi, 2020).
It can be argued that the current emphasis on digital education does not only provide crucial skills for the citizens of the twenty-first century but also frame how a proper life can be understood in this historical moment. As education plays a crucial role in establishing collective imaginaries related to historically specific, normative visions of citizenship ideals, in this presentation interest is in cultural assumptions that intertwine digital citizenship. The presentation is based on recently published joint work (Vaahtera & Lappalainen 2022), in which we have analysed Finnish policy documents around digitalization since the year 2006, when the European Union defined digital competences as one of eight key competences for lifelong learning (European Parliament and the Council 2006). Policy documents have been analysed as cultural texts, which at the same time reflect and convey cultural notions and values.
Sirpa Lappalainen works as a professor of sociology. Her expertise is in sociology of education and qualitative methodology, especially in ethnographic approach. Sirpa’s research interests are mainly in social and cultural processes of inclusions and exclusions. She has conducted research in various educational contexts from early childhood education to vocational upper secondary education and special education.
Sirpa is one of the founding members of Nordforsk funded Nordic Centre of Excellence Justice through education in Nordic countries 2014 – 2018 (university of Helsinki). In addition to that, she is an adjunct professor of social research in education and a research fellow at the research group Social Studies in Urban Education (SURE) at University of Helsinki. Currently, she acts as a network convener in Nordic Education Research Association (NERA) network Justice through Education.
Reference Literature
European Parliament and the Council. (2006, December 30, 2006). Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning. Official Journal of the European Union, L394/310.
Kauppila, A., Kinnari, H. & Niemi, A-M. (2020). Governmentality of disability in the context of lifelong learning in European Union policy. Critical Studies in Education, 61(5), 529-544. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2018.1533876
Vaahtera, T & Lappalainen, S. (2022) Able-mindedness and citizenship in education policy discourses on digital skills, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, DOI: 10.1080/14681366.2022.2156583
Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Profile Books.
