| Abstract: | EUROPEAN CONSCIOUSNESS: TOWARDS DEFINING A COMPLEX CONCEPT AND ITS EDUCATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE – The present study aims at a
definition of ‘European consciousness’. In particular, it draws on Henri Tajfel’s theory of social identity as well as Roland
Wakenhut’s and Jutta Gallenmüller’s moral determination of national consciousness. European consciousness is then defined
as a sense of belonging which, depending on certain identification structures and social perspectives, can take such distinct
forms of moral consciousness as ‘Eurocentrism’, ‘European patriotism’, or ‘reflective European consciousness’. Making reference
to Wolfgang Klafki’s notion of general education, it is finally argued that the emancipatory contribution of schooling to
greater European integration consists in mediating precisely this last way of thinking. |
