Dominant narratives, sometimes called dominant cultural narratives, are frequently-repeated stories that are shared in society through various social and cultural institutions. The term is most frequently used in

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

, the study of education. Dominant narratives are often discussed in tandem with counternarratives. This term has been described as an "invisible hand" that guides reality and perceived reality.

Dominant culture A dominant culture is a cultural practice that is dominant within a particular political, social or economic entity, in which multiple cultures co-exist. It may refer to a language, religion or ritual practices, social value and/or social ...

is defined as the majority cultural practices of a society. Dominant narrative is similar in some ways to the ideas of

metanarrative In social theory, a metanarrative (also master narrative, or meta-narrative and grand narrative; or ) is an overarching narrative about smaller historical narratives, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a (a ...

or grand narrative. Sociologist Judith Lorber defines and describes "A-category" members as those that occupy the dominant group in different aspects of life. Dominant narratives are generally characterized as coming from, or being supported by, privileged or powerful groups. According to political scientist Ronald R. Krebs, dominant narratives are maintained through public support because "even those who disagree with their premises typically abstain from publicly challenging them, for fear of being ignored or castigated." Scholars have used critical discourse analysis to study dominant narratives, with the goal of disrupting the narratives. In

K–12 K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an English language expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States and Canada, which is similar to publicly supported sch ...

economics education Economics education or economic education is a field within economics that focuses on two main themes: *The current state of, and efforts to improve, the economics curriculum, materials and pedagogical techniques used to teach economics at all e ...

in the United States,

neoclassical economics Neoclassical economics is an approach to economics in which the production, consumption, and valuation (pricing) of goods and services are observed as driven by the supply and demand model. According to this line of thought, the value of a go ...

is considered a dominant narrative. According to psychologist Robyn Fivush, counternarratives "use the dominant narrative as a starting point, agreeing on many of the main facts" while changing the subjective perspective.

References

{{narrative Metanarratives Historiography Social constructionism

See also

References