I hope we are agreed at this point that the issue never was
coercive vs non-coercive, but the nature, degree, extent, kinds,
and consequences of coercion.
It is important to recognize that resistance to dominant group
norms is itself normal in most communities, at least for some
categories of people or at some points in the life trajectory.
And this resistance is often pro-social. I have argued elsewhere
that built-in resistances of this sort, which I have called
'counterfunctional' or 'counter-regulatory' serve to increase
the overall plasticity and adaptability to changing internal
and external pressures of a society.
But when a small percentage of the population both enforces
and defines the norms, and does so more in its own interests
than in the interests of the whole, or of the vast majority,
it is likely to have to resort more and to more painful means
to do so, and the behaviors so enforced in the community become
more and more likely to drift away from what is viable and
adaptive in the long run. So, a high degree of coercion of the
kind felt to be coercive and painful, is not just arguably
unjust, it is also a warning sign of much more serious trouble
to come. That's why I think it's worth paying attention to,
anywhere and in any degree, and distinguishing from more normal
or minimal or necessary social and cultural constraints.
The hard question is telling one from the other in borderline
cases. That seems to require cross-cultural comparison, listening
to the complaints of the internal Others and taking them seriously,
and it also suggests the prophyllaxis of a more equable distribution
of power and resources, more articulatory voice regarding norms
more widely distributed across social categories, and less concentration
of the power to coerce. My analysis of our present norms and practices
in education is simply that we have more coercion than is good
for students, and in the long run more than is good for our
society's ability to adapt to the fastest rate of significant
change in terms of internal and external pressures that it has
ever faced. JAY.
JAY LEMKE.
City University of New York.
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