Democracy and Education · Chapter
II: Modes of Social Direction explained
This chapter explores how social direction and control of the young occur not primarily through direct personal influence, but through shared activities involving the use of physical objects.
What happens
This chapter explores how social direction and control of the young occur not primarily through direct personal influence, but through shared activities involving the use of physical objects. Dewey argues that genuine education and socialized mind arise when individuals understand things in terms of their use in joint situations, contrasting this with blind habit formation or mere sensory impression. He emphasizes that the fundamental means of control is intellectual, rooted in habits of understanding developed through cooperative or competitive use of objects, and that a common understanding in shared activity is essential for genuine community life.
Themes in this chapter
Environment and Indirect Education
Dewey emphasizes that the physical environment, used in shared activities, serves as an intermediary for social direction, shaping disposition indirectly through joint pursuits.
Experience and Learning by Doing
The chapter argues that learning and understanding arise from active use of objects in shared contexts, not from passive reception of sensory data.
Social Function of Education
Dewey highlights that social control and the formation of a 'socialized mind' occur through participation in joint activities, where common understanding directs behavior.
Key passages
“There is not, in fact, any such thing as the direct influence of one human being on another apart from use of the physical environment as an intermediary.”
All human influence requires some physical change (e.g., a smile, a word) to transmit attitude; there is no purely direct mind-to-mind contact.
Dewey establishes the necessity of the physical environment in all social interaction, even personal modes.
“The philosophy of learning has been unduly dominated by a false psychology. It is frequently stated that a person learns by merely having the qualities of things impressed upon his mind through the gateway of the senses.”
The common view that learning is simply receiving sensory impressions is mistaken; meaning comes from use, not passive sensation.
Dewey critiques the sensory-impression theory of learning, advocating for an active, use-based understanding.
“When things have a meaning for us, we mean (intend, propose) what we do: when they do not, we act blindly, unconsciously, unintelligently.”
Intelligent action involves responding to the meaning of things, not just reacting to physical stimuli; blind response lacks education.
Dewey distinguishes between trained habit and educated, meaningful action.
“Mind as a concrete thing is precisely the power to understand things in terms of the use made of them; a socialized mind is the power to understand them in terms of the use to which they are turned in joint or shared situations.”
Mind is the ability to grasp the purpose and function of objects; a socialized mind extends this to understanding how objects are used cooperatively with others.
This defines mind and socialized mind in terms of practical, shared use, central to Dewey's theory of social control.