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Negotiating Power Interviews with the education policy elite in Hungary

Negotiating Power Interviews with the education policy elite in Hungary. Eszter Neumann ELTE, Hungary. Introduction. The Know and Pol project: 3 years, more than 100 interviews Asymetric power relations (Bygnes 2008, Neal 1995, Walford 1994)

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Negotiating Power Interviews with the education policy elite in Hungary

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  1. Negotiating PowerInterviews with the education policy elite in Hungary Eszter Neumann ELTE, Hungary

  2. Introduction • The Know and Pol project: 3 years, more than 100 interviews • Asymetric power relations (Bygnes 2008, Neal 1995, Walford 1994) • „reversed” power structure (Desmond 2004, Hertz&Imber 1995, Bygnes 2008, Smith 2006) • Post-Socialist states: Less political stable environments (Rivera, Kozyreva & Sarovskii 2002) → analysis of the discourse about the social situation = phatic function (Jakobson 1960) ECER 2010 Helsinki

  3. Bridging the Difference: Interview in the Ministry 1. • Van Audenhove (2007) on expert interviews • Process knowledge: knowledge on routines, specific interactions and processes in which the expert is directly involved in. • Explanatory knowledge: the expert’s subjective interpretations about his/her role played in the policy process; about the relevance, beliefs, meanings, symbolism, ideas and ideologies attached to the discussed policy process. ECER 2010 Helsinki

  4. Bridging the Difference: Interview in the Ministry 2. The head of department at the Ministry of Education guides away the discussion… [Q about the emerging new policy domain that conquered a part of the department’s scope of authority] A: It’s a different opinion. But it was not my task to solve it. If it was my task, I would have done in a different way. [She turns away and calls her assistant] Pista! Are you coming? We will examine now the law and how the financing evolved. Putting an end to the recording… divides between private/public Q: Did you teach before [becoming a bureaucrat]? A: I worked in a dormitory with disadvantaged pupils. It was a beautiful job. Q: You had to become familiar with bureaucracy… A: It wasn’t easy, because I wanted to go back. You should turn this [recorder]off, this is absolutely subjective.“ ECER 2010 Helsinki

  5. Speaking the same language: temporary dwellers 1. Interview with the deputy head of a governmental agency The critical reader: “Everybody told you cold, warm and lukewarm, etc. and it’s like a piano keyboard, there are different keyboard combinations, but it is difficult to hear it’s overall sound. (…) You have to make raw conclusions without these shades... Unfortunately [in] sociological research [this] practice is not pursued, because half of the sociological literature is of contemplative, struggling thrashing. (…) Researches usually overcome this double requirement in the form of an executive summary: they attempt to summarize these things for the reader who does not possess the researcher’s patience and tolerance. Now, this is not what happens here. It starts with history. This is an absolutely traditional sociological approach: deep back into history. Ok, but I don’t want this.” ECER 2010 Helsinki

  6. Speaking the same language: temporary dwellers 2. • Challenging again social scientists, problematizing „useful” research: “my problem is that as I’m not a researcher, I’m only doing research for the sake of my PhD. But the dilemma about making a PhD is that if you conduct a research, you want to do something useful. (…) If I did sociology, I’d be interested in social engineering, so how can you shape the society.” ECER 2010 Helsinki

  7. Thank you for your attention!Questions, Comments…? Eszter Neumann ELTE, Hungary neumann.eszter@gmail.com ECER 2010 Helsinki

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