The Role of Emotion in Democratic Dialogue: A Self Study
Social Studies Research and Practice
ISSN: 1933-5415
Article publication date: 1 March 2011
Issue publication date: 1 March 2011
Abstract
This study contributes to existing scholarship on democratic education by focusing explicitly on the affective dynamics of teaching with and for discussion. More specifically, the purpose of this research is to critically analyze the first author’s efforts to address the role of emotion in democratic dialogue within the context of classroom-based discussions and the work of preparing future social studies educators for their role as discussion facilitators. We found that despite the instructor’s stated goals and her efforts to teach about the constructive role of emotion in learning to communicate across difference, overall, students continued to judge dispassionate and disembodied speech acts as appropriate, while expressions of anger, frustration, or exaspe-ration were judged inappropriate. More specifically, if a female student spoke with anger or frustration during class discussions, her concerns, ideas, and questions tended to be ridiculed, ignored, or dismissed, while the same emotional rule did not apply to male students. If our intent is to facilitate communication across difference, we must actively attend to the ways in which social hierarchies inform discussion by carefully considering how emotional expression and experiences are positioned.
Keywords
Citation
Reidel, M. and Salinas, C. (2011), "The Role of Emotion in Democratic Dialogue: A Self Study", Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 2-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-01-2011-B0001
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Publishing Limited