Skip to main content

Discourses of Global Citizenship Education: The Influence of the Global Middle Classes

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education

Abstract

This chapter examines the intersections between a growing “global middle class,” their emplacement within national education systems, and subsequent changes within provision of education due to the emergence of this new prominent social group. We begin with an analysis of the discourses that call forth notions of global citizenship and global citizenship education – concepts often associated with both the experiences and needs of the global middle classes. We then examine how the growing presence of global middle-class students and their families across educational contexts may be shaping the provision of education and potentially altering its intended purposes in some cases. This argument is illustrated by a discussion focusing on the increasing prominence of International Baccalaureate programs worldwide, the integration of cosmopolitan values in local curricula, and a consideration of how mobilities reshape the imaginaries of future destinations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Andreotti, V. (2006). Soft versus critical global citizenship education. Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, 3, 40–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andreotti, A., Le Galès, P., Fuentes, M., & Javier, F. (2013). Transnational mobility and rootedness: The upper middle classes in European cities. Global Networks, 13(1), 41–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appiah, K. A. (2006). Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a world of strangers. New York: W. W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arshad-Ayaz, A., Andreotti, V., & Sutherland, A. (2017). A critical reading of the National Youth White Paper on Global Citizenship: What are youth saying and what is missing? International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 8(2), 19–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J. (1993). Education markets, choice and social class: The market as a class strategy in the UK and the USA. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 14(1), 3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. (2010). Is there a global middle class? The beginnings of a cosmopolitan sociology of education: A review. Journal of Comparative Education, 69(1), 137–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J., & Nikita, D. P. (2014). The global middle class and school choice: A cosmopolitan sociology. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 17(3), 81–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bates, R. (2012). Is global citizenship possible, and can international schools provide it? Journal of Research in International Education, 11(3), 262–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaverstock, J. V. (2005). Transnational elites in the city: British highly-skilled inter-company transferees in New York city’s financial district. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31(2), 245–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaverstock, J. V. (2017). The spatial mobility of corporate knowledge: Expatriation, global talent, and the world city. In Mobilities of knowledge (pp. 227–246). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bowden, B. (2003). The perils of global citizenship. Citizenship Studies, 7(3), 349–362.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bromley, P. (2009). Cosmopolitanism in civic education: Exploring cross-national trends, 1970–2008. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 12(1), 33–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, P., Lauder, H., & Ashton, D. (2011). The global auction: The broken promises of education, jobs and rewards. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bühlmann, F., David, T., & Mach, A. (2013). Cosmopolitan capital and the internationalization of the field of business elites: Evidence from the Swiss case. Cultural Sociology, 7(2), 211–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burrell, K. (2010). Staying, returning, working and living: Key themes in current academic research undertaken in the UK on migration movements from Eastern Europe. Social Identities, 16(3), 297–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devadason, R. (2017). The golden handcuffs? Choice, compliance and relocation amongst transnational professionals and executives. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(13), 2265–2282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dill, J. S. (2013). The longings and limits of global citizenship education: The moral pedagogy of schooling in a cosmopolitan age. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doherty, C., & Shield, P. (2012). Teachers’ work in curricular markets: Conditions of design and relations between the international baccalaureate diploma and the local curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(3), 414–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dvir, Y., & Yemini, M. (2017). Mobility as a continuum: European commission mobility policies for schools and higher education. Journal of Education Policy, 32(2), 198–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dvir, Y., Yemini, M., Bronshtein, Y., & Natur, N. (2017). International education as a novel entity in a public education system: The establishment of a new public international school in Israel. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. Ahead of print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Embong, A. R. (2000). Globalization and transnational class relations: Some problems of conceptualization. Third World Quarterly, 21(6), 989–1000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Favell, A. (2008). Eurostars and Eurocities: Free movement and mobility in an integrating Europe. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Finaccord. (2014). Global expatriates: Size, segmentation and forecast for the worldwide market. London: Finaccord.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, J. Z. (2017). The global citizenship agenda and the generation of cosmopolitan capital in British higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gearon, L. (2016). Global human rights. In A. Peterson, R. Hattam, M. Zembylas, & J. Arthur (Eds.), The Palgrave international handbook of education for citizenship and social justice (pp. 205–228). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Goren, H., & Yemini, M. (2016). Global citizenship education in context: Teacher perceptions at an international school and a local Israeli school. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 46(5), 832–853.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goren, H., & Yemini, M. (2017a). Obstacles and opportunities for global citizenship education under intractable conflict: The case of Israel. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 1, 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goren, H., & Yemini, M. (2017b). Citizenship education redefined–a systematic review of empirical studies on global citizenship education. International Journal of Educational Research, 82, 170–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goren, H., & Yemini, M. (2017c). The global citizenship education gap: Teacher perceptions of the relationship between global citizenship education and students’ socio-economic status. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 9–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harpaz, Y. (2013). Rooted cosmopolitans: Israelis with a European passport–history, property, identity. International Migration Review, 47(1), 166–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, W. S., & Beaverstock, J. (2017). Diverging experiences of work and social networks abroad: Highly-skilled British migrants in Singapore, Vancouver and Boston. In M. Riemsdijk & Q. Wang (Eds.), Rethinking international skilled migration: A place-based and spatial perspective (pp. 268–292). Routledge: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ichilov, O. (2002). Differentiated civics curriculum and patterns of citizenship education: Vocational and academic programs in Israel. In D. Scott & H. Lawson (Eds.), Citizenship education and the curriculum (pp. 88–107). Ablex: Westport.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jimenez, J. D., Lerch, J., & Bromley, P. (2017). Education for global citizenship and sustainable development in social science textbooks. European Journal of Education, 52, 460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keßler, C. I., & Krüger, H. H. (2018). “Being international”: Institutional claims and student perspectives at an exclusive international school. In C. Maxwell, U. Deppe, H. Kruger, & W. Helsper (Eds.), Elite education and internationalisation (pp. 209–228). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Koh, S. Y., & Wissink, B. (2017). Enabling, structuring and creating elite transnational lifestyles: intermediaries of the super-rich and the elite mobilities industry. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotzyba, K., Dreier, L., Niemann, M., & Helsper, W. (2018). Processes of internationalisation in Germany’s secondary education system: A case study on internationality in the gymnasium. In C. Maxwell, U. Deppe, H. Kruger, & W. Helsper (Eds.), Elite education and internationalisation (pp. 191–208). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kunz, S. (2016). Privileged Mobilities: Locating the expatriate in migration scholarship. Geography Compass, 10(3), 89–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lareau, A., & Weininger, E. B. (2003). Cultural capital in educational research: A critical assessment. Theory and Society, 32(5), 567–606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, M. (2005). Solving the civic achievement gap in de facto segregated schools. Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly, 25(1/2), 2–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., & Taylor, J. E. (1993). Theories of international migration: A review and appraisal. Population and Development Review, 19, 431–466.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell, C. (2018). Changing spaces – The reshaping of (elite) education through internationalisation. In C. Maxwell, U. Deppe, H. Kruger, & W. Helsper (Eds.), Elite education and internationalisation (pp. 347–367). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell, C., & Aggleton, P. (2016). Creating cosmopolitan subjects: The role of families and private schools in England. Sociology, 50(4), 780–795.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, D. R. (2000). Hong Kong as a global metropolis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Münch, R. (2018). Elite formation in the educational system. Between meritocracy and cumulative advantage. In C. Maxwell, U. Deppe, H. Kruger, & W. Helsper (Eds.), Elite education and internationalisation (pp. 41–55). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, J. P. (2016). Charting a democratic course for global citizenship education: Research directions and current challenges. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 24(2016), 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson, B. (2003). Internationalisation at home from a Swedish perspective: The case of Malmö. Journal of Studies in International Education, 7(1), 27–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osler, A., & Starkey, H. (2003). Learning for cosmopolitan citizenship: Theoretical debates and young people’s experiences. Educational Review, 55(3), 243–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oxley, L., & Morris, P. (2013). Global citizenship: A typology for distinguishing its multiple conceptions. British Journal of Educational Studies, 61(3), 301–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prosser, H. (2018). Elites go public? International Baccalaureate’s decolonising paradox in Ecuador. In C. Maxwell, U. Deppe, H. Kruger, & W. Helsper (Eds.), Elite education and internationalisation (pp. 229–245). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rapoport, A. (2009). A forgotten concept: Global citizenship education and state social studies standards. Journal of Social Studies Research, 33(1), 91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reay, D., Crozier, G., & James, D. (2011). White middle class identities and urban schooling. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Resnik, J. (2016). Struggling for recognition: access to higher education through the International Baccalaureate. Critical Studies in Education, 1–18. Ahead of print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sassen, S. (2000). The global city: Strategic site/new frontier. American Studies, 41(2/3), 79–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savage, M., Bagnall, G., & Longhurst, B. (2005). Globalisation and belonging. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schattle, H. (2008). Education for global citizenship: Illustrations of ideological pluralism and adaptation. Journal of Political Ideologies, 13(1), 73–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sellar, S., & Lingard, B. (2014). The OECD and the expansion of PISA: New global modes of governance in education. British Educational Research Journal, 40(6), 917–936.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sklair, L. (2001). The transnational capitalist class. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soong, H., Stahl, G., & Shan, H. (2017). Transnational mobility through education: A Bourdieusian insight on life as middle transnationals in Australia and Canada. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 16, 241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, S. (2015). Mapping global citizenship. Journal of College and Character, 16(4), 242–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarc, P. (2009). Global dreams, enduring tensions: International baccalaureate in a changing world. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urry, J. (2007). Mobilities. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veugelers, W. (2011). The moral and the political in global citizenship: Appreciating differences in education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9(3–4), 473–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weenink, D. (2008). Cosmopolitanism as a form of capital: Parents preparing their children for a globalizing world. Sociology, 42(6), 1089–1106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Windle, J., & Nogueira, M.-A. (2015). The role of internationalisation in the schooling of Brazilian elites: Distinctions between two class fractions. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(1), 174–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, P. (2016). ‘Eliteness’ in Chinese schooling. In C. Maxwell & P. Aggleton (Eds.), Elite education. International perspectives (pp. 135–147). Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yemini, M. (2015). Internationalisation discourse hits the tipping point: A new definition is needed. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 19(1), 19–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yemini, M., & Dvir, Y. (2016). International baccalaureate as a litmus test revealing conflicting values and power relations in the Israeli education system. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 37(2), 310–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yemini, M., & Furstenberg, S. (2017). Students’ perceptions of GCE in local and in an international schools. Cambridge Journal of Education. Ahead of Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yemini, M., & Maxwell, C. (2017). De-coupling and re-coupling with ‘home’ – Identities and parenting of the Israeli Global Middle Class in London. Paper presented at international conference for education and democratic citizenship 11, London.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miri Yemini .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Yemini, M., Maxwell, C. (2018). Discourses of Global Citizenship Education: The Influence of the Global Middle Classes. In: Peterson, A., Stahl, G., Soong, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_14-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67905-1_14-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-67905-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-67905-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

Publish with us

Policies and ethics