On becoming a global citizen: Praxis in identity politics. A participatory development education project

"Think globally, act locally," is a popular call to action that entails overcoming the central problems of social theory, namely: the micro/macro, agent/structure, public/private, and state/civil society dichotomies. To meet this challenge, this thesis integrates theory, method and practice within a social constructivist framework, understanding social theory to be a relation of theories of agency, order and change. The study is organized in two parts: theory and praxis. Identity theory is incorporated into social interaction theory. The thesis emphasizes that "multiple identities comprise the self" and proposes that the "ordering processes" entailed in multiple and over-lapping role-identities provide a dynamic for change in social interaction. It draws on the concept of "representations" as the outcome of reflexive processes which sustain or change social institutions now. Order is understood as the management of self-authorizing identity groups. The relationship of state and civil society are reshaped into concepts of non-sovereign states and civil society as the locus for citizenship within multiple policy arenas. Social movements are seen as constitutive of order that is "structured" but not "contained". This approach was applied to a project of development education which established (via interactive telecommunications) a "discursive community" of persons across four countries engaged in joint analysis of development policy and of their action strategies as change agents. Q-Methodology was used to enable participants to define for themselves their own understandings of development and their understandings of the role-identities citizen and global citizen. The Q-Study revealed a striking coherence of views among the participants, the deep alienation of most participants from the development policies of their respective governments and that the participants maintained both local and global identifications. The value of Q-Method as a tool for critical theory and as an instrument for measuring and communicating role-identities was demonstrated. The dialogic process strengthened participants' identifications and enhanced their appreciation for the possibilities of global/local citizenship. The transnational dialogue confirmed theory expectations while surfacing needed modifications in the project process. Suggestions for research and practice flow from this praxis.