Educating for citizenship in the era of storytelling

Abstract

The question of the potentially negative impact of mass media communication on democratic societies has been for decades in the spotlight (with the notions of “videopower”, “psychopower” and “telecracy”).

Against this backdrop, the contribution focuses on a specific facet, that of storytelling, which will be addressed through the critical lens of Christian Salmon, educationally appropriated in light of Neil Postman’s tenets. I explore whether and how a combination of Dewey’s education for inquiry and Richard Rorty’s “sentimental education” through novels could represent a way of educating citizens capable of critically engaging with the many forms of storytelling dominating the public discourse.