Liberdade, educação e modernidade líquida: contribuições do currículo escolar no processo de emancipação individual contemporânea

Abstract

Modernity developed from the ideas of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment thinkers. It was believed that reason, besides freeing human beings from subordination to the other’s thinking, would encourage the organization of societies that could provide protection and freedom to their citizens. In early 20th century, Freud highlighted the unease caused in societies that gave up their freedom in exchange for security. In the second half of the 20th century, a discussion about the end of modernity began. Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, in debates about postmodernity, developed the concept of “liquid modernity.” Among many other topics, he stressed that a large part of humanity was experiencing unprecedented freedom. This was the starting point for carrying out this study, whose main objective is to present a theoretical-critical reflection on the contributions of the school curriculum in the contemporary individual emancipation process. To this end, it sought to understand the concept of “liquid modernity” from which it proposed to analyze the idea of freedom at the beginning of the 21st century and to highlight the importance of education in the process of individual emancipation to then reflect on the role of the school curriculum in this process, considering Brazilian sociocultural issues. The development of this qualitative approach research, due to its predominantly theoretical structure, used the bibliographic analysis as a methodological procedure. The theoretical framework of this reflective descriptive study is supported by thinkers such as Zygmunt Bauman, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Michel Serres, José Gimeno Sacristán, Michael Apple, Miguel Arroyo, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Lilia Schwarcaz, among others. The research aims to contribute to the understanding of the concept of “liquid modernity,” to give new meaning to the work “Emile, or On Education,” and to expand knowledge about the school curriculum, along with underlining the importance of the need to reflect on the concept of freedom in the current context. The research paths will help to broaden discussions about contemporary school education