Egalitarian dialogue
Encyclopedia
The concept of egalitarian dialogue, coined by Flecha (2000), refers to a dialogue in which contributions are considered according to the validity of their reasoning, instead of according to the status or position of power of those who make them.
Egalitarian dialogue is also one of the seven principles of dialogic learning (Flecha, 2000), which are: egalitarian dialogue, cultural intelligence, equality of differences, creation of meaning, instrumental dimension, solidarity, and transformation. In particular, the principle of egalitarian dialogue is deeply interrelated to the other principles of dialogic learning. Through recognizing all people’s cultural intelligence and respecting differences from an egalitarian basis, egalitarian dialogue encourages individuals to create meaning, develop solidarity among different people, and create new instrumental dimensions. This interdependence between the principles of dialogic learning favors constant social transformation.
(1997) calls unity in diversity, never defends diversity or difference without simultaneously proposing equality and fairness toward different individual and groups.
Equality of differences is also enacted in the Learning Communities (Valls, 2000; Elboj et al., 2001). The Learning Communities are schools in Spain, Brazil and Chile that have undergone a process of educational and social transformation based on dialogic learning. In the learning communities, the equality of differences principle is shown, among other practices, in the interactive groups (Aubert et al., 2004), where students and adults who have different levels of instruction and are from different backgrounds, teach and learn from each other. Those interactions create Zone of Proximal Development
(Vygotsky, 1978), this showing that meaning making and learning do not depend solely on the intervention of professionals, but on all the knowledge brought by anyone related to the students (Flecha, 2000).
from its systemic colonization by the “steering media” of power, law and bureaucratization. The systemic decolonization is a way of reinventing democracy in public spaces and institutions and for recovering meaning. Habermas’ concept of lifeworld
refers to the everyday contexts where people relate to each other and create meaning and structures to organize themselves. In Habermas
’ view, and also from a dialogic learning perspective, subjects create meaning through intersubjectivity
or the interaction among subjects engaged in egalitarian dialogue.
Any person can engage in such meaning making dialogue because humans have epistemological curiosity, which when expressed in egalitarian dialogue can criticize and end with what Freire (2001) called the bureaucratizing of the mind, an invisible power of alienating domestication. Such debureaucratization process can be seen in Dialogic Musical Gatherings (CONFAPEA, 2005), where people develop their epistemological curiosity listening to classical music and later engaging in a dialogue about the instruments that were playing, about the composer, his life and his position in a historical context, the style of the music listened to and its relationship with the cultural claims of each participant belonging to the Music Gathering, etc. In this process, meaning is created and recovered because music escapes the system and goes back to people’s lifeworld
tearing down the walls of cultural elitism
.
(1984), the instrumental and communicative rationality
are not opposed to each other, but instrumental learning becomes more intense and profound when situated in an adequate dialogical framework. The ability to select and process information is the cognitive tool that best enables one to function confidently in today’s society. Dialogue and reflection encourage the development of that ability. Relationships with other people put not only diverse information but also its selection and processing at our disposal(Flecha, 2000, p.16). In addition, when dialogue is egalitarian, it encourages intense reflection, since people need to understand other positions and express their own (Flecha, 2000, p.16). In this sense, in egalitarian dialogue, procedures and ends are dialogically agreed. Those work for purposes of understanding, and do not let interactants hide themselves behind means that obscure exclusionary interests.
In education without dialogue, every single item becomes a target for power claims, even methods and instruments for learning, and therefore, the bureaucratization of those elements is inevitable. For this reason, the instrumental dimension of dialogic learning is never purely instrumental. It is also ethical, respectful, characterized by a sense of solidarity that contributes to break up the existing educational structure.
The emphasis of dialogic learning
on solidarity as the wheel that drives this perspective on education can be evidenced in the Learning Communities. For instance, in the School for Adults La Verneda-Sant Martí (Sánchez, 1999; Flecha, 2000) all the activities are open to anyone from the community and the city, and are also deeply integrated in the neighborhood. Because of discussing books from the classic literature through dialogic learning, the dialogic literary gatherings help improve the lives of the participants in the gathering but also of other people in the school and the neighborhood, when for example some participants in the gathering take part of different committees of the school that plan actions of social transformation in the neighborhood, the city and beyond.
In this sense, solidarity is not only understood as an act for identifying and denouncing problems, but also as means to solve them. Solidarity does not only imply denouncing the process of dehumanization, but also announcing the dream of a new society (Freire, 2001). In this regard, solidarity goes beyond rebellious attitudes that do not propose an alternative, and reaches a more radically critical and dialogical position that implies the transformation of oneself, institutions, and the world.
xc
Egalitarian dialogue is also one of the seven principles of dialogic learning (Flecha, 2000), which are: egalitarian dialogue, cultural intelligence, equality of differences, creation of meaning, instrumental dimension, solidarity, and transformation. In particular, the principle of egalitarian dialogue is deeply interrelated to the other principles of dialogic learning. Through recognizing all people’s cultural intelligence and respecting differences from an egalitarian basis, egalitarian dialogue encourages individuals to create meaning, develop solidarity among different people, and create new instrumental dimensions. This interdependence between the principles of dialogic learning favors constant social transformation.
Egalitarian dialogue and equality of differences
The recognition and respect of different types of knowledge raises the awareness that each person has something to share, something different and equally important. Therefore, the wider the diversity of voices engaged in egalitarian dialogue, the better the knowledge that can be dialogically constructed. In this sense, dialogic learning is oriented towards equality of differences, stating that true equality includes the right to live in a different way (Flecha, 2000). This perspective, which Paulo FreirePaulo Freire
Paulo Reglus Neves Freire was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy.-Biography:...
(1997) calls unity in diversity, never defends diversity or difference without simultaneously proposing equality and fairness toward different individual and groups.
Equality of differences is also enacted in the Learning Communities (Valls, 2000; Elboj et al., 2001). The Learning Communities are schools in Spain, Brazil and Chile that have undergone a process of educational and social transformation based on dialogic learning. In the learning communities, the equality of differences principle is shown, among other practices, in the interactive groups (Aubert et al., 2004), where students and adults who have different levels of instruction and are from different backgrounds, teach and learn from each other. Those interactions create Zone of Proximal Development
Zone of proximal development
“The zone of proximal development defines functions that have not matured yet, but are in a process of maturing. The zone of proximal development , often abbreviated ZPD, is the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help...
(Vygotsky, 1978), this showing that meaning making and learning do not depend solely on the intervention of professionals, but on all the knowledge brought by anyone related to the students (Flecha, 2000).
Egalitarian dialogue and creation of meaning
Habermas (2004a, 2004b) has stressed the need to recover the lifeworldLifeworld
Lifeworld may be conceived as a universe of what is self-evident or given, a world that subjects may experience together. For Husserl, the lifeworld is the fundament for all epistemological enquiries. The concept has its origin in biology and cultural Protestantism.The lifeworld concept is used in...
from its systemic colonization by the “steering media” of power, law and bureaucratization. The systemic decolonization is a way of reinventing democracy in public spaces and institutions and for recovering meaning. Habermas’ concept of lifeworld
Lifeworld
Lifeworld may be conceived as a universe of what is self-evident or given, a world that subjects may experience together. For Husserl, the lifeworld is the fundament for all epistemological enquiries. The concept has its origin in biology and cultural Protestantism.The lifeworld concept is used in...
refers to the everyday contexts where people relate to each other and create meaning and structures to organize themselves. In Habermas
Habermas
People with the surname Habermas include:*German sociologist and philosopher, Jürgen Habermas*American philosophical theologian, Gary Habermas...
’ view, and also from a dialogic learning perspective, subjects create meaning through intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity is a term used in philosophy, psychology, sociology and anthropology to describe a condition somewhere between subjectivity and objectivity, one in which a phenomenon is personally experienced but by more than one subject....
or the interaction among subjects engaged in egalitarian dialogue.
Any person can engage in such meaning making dialogue because humans have epistemological curiosity, which when expressed in egalitarian dialogue can criticize and end with what Freire (2001) called the bureaucratizing of the mind, an invisible power of alienating domestication. Such debureaucratization process can be seen in Dialogic Musical Gatherings (CONFAPEA, 2005), where people develop their epistemological curiosity listening to classical music and later engaging in a dialogue about the instruments that were playing, about the composer, his life and his position in a historical context, the style of the music listened to and its relationship with the cultural claims of each participant belonging to the Music Gathering, etc. In this process, meaning is created and recovered because music escapes the system and goes back to people’s lifeworld
Lifeworld
Lifeworld may be conceived as a universe of what is self-evident or given, a world that subjects may experience together. For Husserl, the lifeworld is the fundament for all epistemological enquiries. The concept has its origin in biology and cultural Protestantism.The lifeworld concept is used in...
tearing down the walls of cultural elitism
Elitism
Elitism is the belief or attitude that some individuals, who form an elite — a select group of people with intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most...
.
Egalitarian dialogue and instrumental dimension
The Instrumental Dimension of learning, as a principle of dialogic learning, should not be confused with instrumentality or the technocratic colonization of learning. In dialogic learning, as in HabermasHabermas
People with the surname Habermas include:*German sociologist and philosopher, Jürgen Habermas*American philosophical theologian, Gary Habermas...
(1984), the instrumental and communicative rationality
Communicative rationality
Communicative rationality, or communicative reason, is a theory or set of theories which describes human rationality as a necessary outcome of successful communication. In particular, it is tied to the philosophy of Karl-Otto Apel, Jürgen Habermas, and their program of universal pragmatics, along...
are not opposed to each other, but instrumental learning becomes more intense and profound when situated in an adequate dialogical framework. The ability to select and process information is the cognitive tool that best enables one to function confidently in today’s society. Dialogue and reflection encourage the development of that ability. Relationships with other people put not only diverse information but also its selection and processing at our disposal(Flecha, 2000, p.16). In addition, when dialogue is egalitarian, it encourages intense reflection, since people need to understand other positions and express their own (Flecha, 2000, p.16). In this sense, in egalitarian dialogue, procedures and ends are dialogically agreed. Those work for purposes of understanding, and do not let interactants hide themselves behind means that obscure exclusionary interests.
In education without dialogue, every single item becomes a target for power claims, even methods and instruments for learning, and therefore, the bureaucratization of those elements is inevitable. For this reason, the instrumental dimension of dialogic learning is never purely instrumental. It is also ethical, respectful, characterized by a sense of solidarity that contributes to break up the existing educational structure.
Egalitarian dialogue and solidarity
Solidarity feeds dialogue, but at the same time, egalitarian dialogue, as essential communication, must underlie any act of solidarity (Freire, 1970). That is why, egalitarian educational practices must be grounded in conceptions of solidarity (Flecha, 2000, p.20).The emphasis of dialogic learning
Dialogic learning
Dialogic learning is the result of egalitarian dialogue; in other words, the consequence of a dialogue in which different people provide arguments based on validity claims and not on power claims. The concept of dialogic learning is not a new one. It is frequently linked to the Socratic dialogues...
on solidarity as the wheel that drives this perspective on education can be evidenced in the Learning Communities. For instance, in the School for Adults La Verneda-Sant Martí (Sánchez, 1999; Flecha, 2000) all the activities are open to anyone from the community and the city, and are also deeply integrated in the neighborhood. Because of discussing books from the classic literature through dialogic learning, the dialogic literary gatherings help improve the lives of the participants in the gathering but also of other people in the school and the neighborhood, when for example some participants in the gathering take part of different committees of the school that plan actions of social transformation in the neighborhood, the city and beyond.
In this sense, solidarity is not only understood as an act for identifying and denouncing problems, but also as means to solve them. Solidarity does not only imply denouncing the process of dehumanization, but also announcing the dream of a new society (Freire, 2001). In this regard, solidarity goes beyond rebellious attitudes that do not propose an alternative, and reaches a more radically critical and dialogical position that implies the transformation of oneself, institutions, and the world.
xc