The gender gap in political participation remains persistent in Western democracies. According to research, gendered differences in political participation are constituted during secondary schooling, where social dynamics are argued to play a dominating role in the shaping and gendering of students’ future participation in politics, for instance by forming and gendering social experiences with participating in political discussions in the open classroom.
In this paper, we argue that in addition to social dynamics, students’ experiences with participating in political discussions in the open classroom, are formed and gendered by the material. We turn our focus to affect and the gendered affective economies that circulate in the open classroom during political discussions, while we also scrutinise how these come to dis/encourage boys and girls from participating in the political discussions. We ask: Which affective states are evoked in the bodies of girls and boys when participating in political discussions in the open classroom? And how do these affective states unfold in terms of in/activity in political discussions in the open classroom?
We find inspiration in the literature on affect, and more specifically the literature on affective governmentality. This literature contends that behaviour is shaped through productions of affects, charging the human body in ways, governing particular behaviours. Negative affects such as shame govern behaviours of turning away from the classroom, whereas positive affects like happiness govern behaviours of turning towards the classroom, since the human body desires to avoid discomfort and obtain opposite comfort.
We base the paper on qualitative interview data generated through nine mixed-gender focus groups with eight students in each. Students were selected based on their in/activity in political discussions in the open classroom. Interviews were structured by an interview guide, focusing on affective experiences with participating in political discussions in the open classroom, thus allowing insights into such experiences.
Our findings suggest that both girls and boys feel an unease, that sometimes turns into feelings of fear, when participating in political discussions in the open classroom. However, they adopt different behaviours of in/activity to manage that fear. Many girls adopt a behaviour of seemingly inactivity, as they fear negative reactions to a potentially wrong answer, and not saying anything protects them from saying something wrong. Many boys adopt a contrary behaviour of (hyper)activity, which involves constantly talking, interrupting and commenting on other students’ answers. This behaviour enables the boys to predict feared negative reactions of others, meaning they do not have to fear negative reactions as much as prepare for such reactions.
We conclude that the affective states of unease and fear, evoked in the bodies of girls and boys during political discussions in the open classroom, unfold as different behaviours of in/activity.
Our findings call for educational developments, not only addressing changes of social dynamics in the open classroom, but also changes in the affects, circulated in this classroom, if we are to design civic education that is more efficient in enhancing future democratic dispositions among young people.
Authors: Jette Sandager & Dorthe Staunæs
