Mid Sweden University

The aim of this study is to investigate discipline in German and Swedishclassrooms and describe its cultural contexts. In countries with compulsory educa-tion, it must be assumed that not all students voluntarily attend classes. The man-datory presence of students combined with the ban on corporal punishment inschools means that classroom interaction has to be organized according to certainmanners and rules (Luhmann, 2002a:108a). These rules are understood here as dis-cipline meaning the organization and control of individuals and their actions overspace and time (Foucault, 1987/1975). This study assumes similarities in the funda-mental disciplinary mechanisms, although different contexts (here Germany andSweden) will create different concrete manifestations of the phenomenon. Since theobservation of cultural contexts is not as self-evident and direct as the observationof classroom interactions of teachers and students, the theoretical considerationshere include a detailed discussion of methodology for observing culture. Startingwith Alfred Schütz’ concept of ideal types and Niklas Luhmann’s theory on massmedia, it is argued that culture can be observed through the products of mass me-dia. The empirical data for this study consists of field studies in the form of obser -vations in German and Swedish classrooms as well as the examination of Germanand Swedish films and television series about teachers and students. The classroomobservations were used to create ideal typical descriptions of different implementa-tions of disciplinary procedure. Based on the analysis of teacher figures in variousGerman and Swedish films and television series, several “good” and “bad” teachertypes were initially identified. Combining the two results allowed conclusions tobe made about correlations between disciplinary order and whether a teacher isconsidered “good” or “bad”. This review of the various types of order is the basisfor the description of cultural contexts. The results of classroom observations andfilm studies and their discussion in relation to prior Swedish research, gives thepicture of a cultural context in which various forms of classroom order are avail-able, in which they are critically discussed and also can exist in parallel to each oth-er. On the other hand, the German context seems to allow only one form ofclassroom order, both in actual school operations as well as in the mass media rep -resentation and scientific reflection.