Imagination and the globalisation of educational policy research

Abstract

A number of theorists, including Charles Taylor, Arjun Appadurai and Dilip Gaonkar all associated with the University of Chicago based journal, Public Culture, have developed the idea of social imaginary. Their notion of imagination departs significantly from traditional philosophical and sociological analyses that view imagination as an individual capacity, located within the aesthetic realm. Instead, Public Culture theorists interpret imagination as a collective social fact that, in the era of globalisation, has become a critical part of everyday life, a form of labour in the formation of subjectivities. This paper will explore the major implications of this contention for thinking about educational policy research.

Keywords:

• Educational policy
• Globalisation
• Intergovermental organisations
• Nation state
• Policy research
• Social imaginaries