Within much recent scholarship social sciences especially in European contexts, issues regarding cultural diversity, differences and pluralism are prevalent. Parallel to these complex theoretical conversations, politicians have taken up, and often misused, much of these academic discussions; this is evident in the educational reforms that are targeted at specific identity groups and rationalized through the results from standardized achievement tests (e.g. PISA). These standardized tests and reforms contribute to dominant narratives about specific (“at-risk”) groups in educational settings, such as boys and girls, children from immigrant backgrounds, or ethnic groups, to name but a few. Hence ideas about “who” to fix in schools rather than “how” to fix schools are often the main focus of several political “remedies”, reform movements from school trustees, as well as within the approaches of some social scientists. This short description outlines the political context, specifically in relation to education, within which this research takes place. It seeks to outline the discourses of German-speaking countries but also discuss its embedding on an international level.

This project draws on the ethnographic strategy of exploring how ‘differences’ are constructed and disrupted in schools. The notion of difference refers to the way in which binaried identities, such as male and female are constructed; however, it also relates to the way in which the norm and other are reified as well as disrupted within the school context. One aim within the research is to understand the conditions within which actors in schools regulate one another based on normative understandings.

This project has been informed – to speak with Mecheril and Plößer (2009, S.200) – by “reflexive-critical approaches”: social constructivist and deconstructive approaches, which both question difference as something naturally granted. Simply put, social constructivist approaches (West/Zimmerman 1987; Garfinkel 1967) inquire the production and consequences of doing difference (Fenstermaker/West 2002), while deconstructionist considerations (Butler 1991, 1995; Derridas 1999; Plößer 2005) question the symbolic order itself.

Influenced in particular by gender theories, in relation to the construction and disruption of masculinities and femininities, gender is a major lens for this study (s.a. Bilden 2001; Connell 2005; Degele 2007) However, this work recognizes the complexity of social practice and the various meanings active for the participants. As such, it seeks to proliferate simplified understandings of fixed notions of gender through discussions of race, class, sexuality, ability and other elements of intersection revealed in the field research.

Bilden, Helga (2001): Die Grenzen von Geschlecht überschreiten. In: Fritzsche, Bettina; Hartmann, Jutta; Schmidt, Andrea; Tervooren, Anja (Hg.): Dekonstruktive Pädagogik. Erziehungswissenschaftliche Debatten unter poststrukturalistischen Perspektiven. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, S. 137–148. Breidenstein, Georg; Kelle, Helga (1998): Geschlechteralltag in der Schulklasse. Ethnographische Studien zur Gleichaltrigenkultur. Weinheim: Juventa-Verl. Butler, Judith (1991): Das Unbehagen der Geschlechter. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. Butler, Judith P. (1995): Körper von Gewicht. Die diskursiven Grenzen des Geschlechts. Berlin: Berlin-Verl. Connell, R. W. (2005): Masculinities. Reprinted.2009. Cambridge: Polity Press. Degele, Nina (2007): Männlichkeiten Queeren. In: Bauer, Robin; Hoenes, Josch; Woltersdorff, Volker (Hg.): Unbeschreiblich männlich. Heteronormativitätskritische Perspektiven. 1. Aufl. Hamburg: MännerschwarmSkript-Verl., S. 29–42. Derrida, Jacques; Engelmann, Peter (Hg.) (1999): Randgänge der Philosophie. 2.,überarb. Aufl. Wien: Passagen-Verl. Fenstermaker, Sarah; West, Candace (2002): Doing gender, doing difference. Inequality, power, and institutional change. New York: Routledge. Foucault, Michel; Hurley, Robert (1990): The history of sexuality. Volume 1: An introduction. New York: Vintage. Fritzsche, Bettina; Hartmann, Jutta; Schmidt, Andrea, et al. (Hg.) (2001): Dekonstruktive Pädagogik. Erziehungswissenschaftliche Debatten unter poststrukturalistischen Perspektiven. Opladen: Leske + Budrich. Garfinkel, Harold (1967): Studies in Ethnomethodologie. New York: Prentice Hall. Geertz, Clifford (Hg.) (2006): The interpretation of cultures. Selected essays. [Nachdr.1973]. New York: Basic Books. Hirschauer, Stefan; Amann, Klaus (Hg.) (1997): Die Befremdung der eigenen Kultur. Zur ethnographischen Herausforderung soziologischer Empirie. 1. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp (/Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch / Wissenschaft] Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch Wissenschaft, 1318). Mecheril, Paul; Plößer, Melanie (2009): Differenz. In: Andresen, Sabine; Casala, Rita (Hg.): Handwörterbuch Erziehungswissenschaft. Weinheim: Beltz. Melter, Claus; Mecheril, Paul; Scharathow, Wiebke, et al. (Hg.) (2009): Rassismuskritische Bildungsarbeit. Schwalbach/Ts.: Wochenschau-Verl. (Reihe Politik und Bildung, 48). Plößer, Melanie (2005): Dekonstruktion - Feminismus - Pädagogik. Vermittlungsansätze zwischen Theorie und Praxis. Univ., Fachbereich Pädagogik--Bielefeld, 2004. Königstein/Taunus: Helmer. West, Candace; Zimmerman, Don H. (1987): Doing Gender. In: Gender & Society, Jg. 1, S. 125–151.