Fluchtlinien sozialpädagogischer Theorien – Eine Re- und Dekonstruktion aus einer diskursanalytischen Perspektive

The project “Alignments of theories of social pedagogy—A reconstruction and deconstruction from a discourse analytical perspective” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), systematically and empirically examines disciplinary theory building. The aim of the project is to reconstruct and deconstruct theoretical discourses on social pedagogy since the socioscientific turnaround up to the present from a discourse analytical perspective. The analysis focuses on two questions: which kind of (hegemonic) symbolic area of knowledge is constituted through theories of social pedagogy and how is this area of knowledge actualized and transformed through multiple references? This will shed light on the processes of emergence and differentiation in theory building concerning the discipline of social pedagogy. To accomplish this, it is necessary to take the diversity of (symbolic) contexts of theories on social pedagogy into account as well as the way texts have effects beyond singular contexts. To examine the heterogeneity of social pedagogy theory discourse, the project employs two different but complementary methodological approaches: hegemony analysis (according to Nonhoff) and linguistic expression analysis of discourse (according to Angermüller). Hegemony analysis focuses on the positioning of (symbolic) elements to reconstruct the structure of the discoursive space. In contrast, linguistic expression analysis of discourse analyzes the microlevel to trace the disintegration of hegemonial meaning in discourse.