2017 JN PP Andrew Peterson_1.pdf
Terbatas  Irwan Sofiyan
» Gedung UPT Perpustakaan
Terbatas  Irwan Sofiyan
» Gedung UPT Perpustakaan
The aim of this paper is to consider the ways in which civic republican theory
can provide a meaningful and useful account of social justice, one that is which holds
resonance for educational debates. Recognising the need for educationalists interested in
civic republicanism to pay greater attention to ideas of justice—and in particular social
justice as it concerns relationships between citizens (citizen to citizen, group to group or
citizen to group)—it is argued that a form of civic republicanism committed to freedom as
non-domination is capable of providing a substantive model for analysing social (in)justice
within educational arenas. After positioning the contribution offered here within existing
educational literature on civic republicanism, salient elements of social justice as freedom
as non-domination are identified. On this basis, debates concerning the existence and
potential expansion of state (public) grammar schools in England are considered in relation
to the account of republican social justice as non-domination. It is argued that from this
republican position grammar schools (1) represent an arbitrary domination of the interests
of those less well off by those with greater material and cultural capital and (2) in doing so
lead to advantages for some at the expense of others. Though the focus of the paper is on
grammar schools in England, it is suggested that republican justice may be a useful frame
for considering similar educational cases in England and elsewhere.