Suchergebnisse

ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION FOR PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUPS CAN BE A MAJOR ISSUE IN THE POLITICS OF MULTIETHNIC STATES, AND IT IS THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER TO DISCUSS ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ONE OF THE MOST MULTIETHNIC SOCIETIES CURRENTLY IN EXISTENCE, THE SOVIET UNION. IN DOING SO, IT IS THE OTHER MAIN PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE GENERAL CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION OF THE MEANING OF ETHNIC EQUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION. AS WILL BE SHOWN BY ILLUSTRATIONS DERIVED FROM THE SOVIET CASE AS WELL AS BY CROSS-CULTURAL REFERENCES, CLARITY OF DEFINITION AND CONCEPTUALIZATION IS IMPERATIVE IF ONE IS TO AVOID A NUMBER OF ANALYTICAL PITFALLS. AT FIRST GLANCE IT APPEARS THAT THE QUESTION OF EQUALITY IN EDUCATIONAL ACCESS CAN BE ANSWERED RELATIVELY SIMPLY BY EXAMINING STATISTICS ON THE PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC GROUPS ATTENDING INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION. THIS APPROACH IS FREQUENTLY USED IN PRACTICE, THE IMPLICIT OR EXPLICIT ASSUMPTION BEING THAT BY MEASURING THE EXTENT OF STATISTICAL DISPARITIES ONE INDICATES WHETHER OR NOT ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION AND /OR FAVORITISM EXISTS. IT WILL BE ARGUED HERE THAT THE PROBLEM IS IN FACT MUCH MORE COMPLEX AND THAT OTHER FACTORS HAVE TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT. THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THESE RELATE TO THE LEVEL OF ANALYSIS, TO THE TENSION BETWEEN GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, AND TO THE ASSUMPTION THAT DISPARITY IS INHERENTLY CONTROVERSIAL OR RELATED TO POLITICS. AN ADDITIONAL PROBLEM CONCERNS THE ONE-SIDED DEFINITION OF ETHNIPY: 1984

THE EFFORT OF JURGEN HABERMAS TO RECONCILE THE MANIFEST TENSION BETWEEN HIS ASSUMPTION OF A COMMITMENT TO IDEAL SPEECH THAT IS INHERENT IN COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE, ON THE ONE HAND, AND HIS AWARENESS OF THE HERETOFORE UBIQUITOUS COUNTERFACTUAL STATUS OF ANYTHING EVEN APPROXIMATING IDEAL SPEECH, ON THE OTHER, HAS CULMINATED IN AN EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE. THE CENTRAL CLAIM OF THIS THEORY IS THAT THE EVOLUTION OF COLLECTIVE COGNITIVE STRUCTURES -OF "WORLD VIEWS" AND SOCIETAL "NORMS" - FOLLOWS A "RATIONALLY RECONSTRUCTIBLE PATTERN" THAT IS "HOMOLOGOUS" TO THE PATTERN THAT PSYCHOLOGISTS SUCH AS PIAGET AND KOHLBERG HAVE RECONSTRUCTED FOR THE COGNITIVE AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL.1 BUT A DEMONSTRATION OF THIS HOMOLOGY COULD ONLY STAND AS A THEORY OF THE COLLECTIVE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN SPECIES AS A WHOLE IF IT IS INDEED THE CASE THAT THE PATTERN OF INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT RECONSTRUCTED BY THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGISTS DESCRIBES THE COGNITIVE ONTOGENESIS OF THE MEMBERS OF BOTH SEXES OF THIS SPECIES: THE TACIT ASSUMPTION UNDERLYING THE EXTRAPOLATION FROM THE ONTOGENETIC TO THE PHYLOGENETIC LEVEL IS THAT THESE PSYCHOLOGISTS HAVE ACCURATELY RECONSTRUCTED THE PATTERN OF COGNITIVE AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT OF BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. IT IS PRECISELY THIS ASSUMPTION THAT THE EMERGING CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY CONTESTS.

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