AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

This project aims to investigate how the recent political changes within the field of education in Denmark is compatible with American philosopher Martha Nussbaum's claims that we are heading towards educating for profit and economic gain, and as a result, are in great danger of losing the humanistic studies and therefore also democracy. Humanistic studies are vital when it comes to educating towards remaining critical of society, and as such always questioning or challenging the direction our democracy is taking. Furthermore, through investigating the claims made by Danish politician Mattias Tesfaye, that the field of craftsmanship is also slowly disappearing from the educational system in Denmark, the consequences upon the danish society are highlighted. Through the educational theories of famous French sociologists Émile Durkheim and Pierre Bourdieu, an attempt to estimate what purpose education has in today's democratic society has been argued. With our main analysis in the project as a point of departure, we feel sufficiently equipped to argue that the political tendencies relating to higher education are, at the moment, steadily growing towards educating students in a more profit-minded direction. As a natural outcome of this, the focus on the humanistic studies minimized.