Social aspects of mathematics education

ABSTRACT IN CROATIAN: U radu se ispituje dvojna uloga matematickog obrazovanja u drustvu i to s jedne strane kao instrumenta tehnoloskog i ekonomskog razvoja, a s druge kao mehanizma za postizanje drustvenog statusa. U tu svrhu razmatra se uloga matematickog obrazovanja u povecanju ekonomske produktivnosti i kompetitivnosti, u (re)produkciji drustvenih nejednakosti, kao i njegova vaznost za aktivno gradanstvo. Polazeci od koncepata ljudskog kapitala i znanja visokog statusa, zastupa se teza da se ekonomski i statusni aspekt matematickog obrazovanja ne mogu razmatrati odvojeno buduci da aktualno (pre)naglasavanje ekonomskog aspekta pojacava tendenciju k obrazovnoj reprodukciji drustvenih nejednakosti, sto u konacnici moze biti ekonomski disfunkcionalno. Autori naglasavaju potrebu za odmakom od obrazovnih politika usmjerenih primarno na ekonomsku ucinkovitost pojedinca - shvacenog kao apstraktnog nositelja ljudskog kapitala - prema politikama koje pitanje razvoja ljudskih resursa povezuju sa smanjenjem strukturnih nejednakosti u (matematickom) obrazovanju i drustvu opcenito. // ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: The paper examines the dual role of mathematics education in society, on the one hand as an instrument of technological and economic development, and on the other as a mechanism for status attainment. Therefore, the authors discuss the role of mathematics education in raising economic competitiveness and productivity, in the (re)production of social inequalities, and its relevance for active citizenship. Drawing on the concepts of human capital and high status knowledge, it is asserted that the economic and status attainment aspects of mathematics education cannot be separated, since the actual (over)accentuation of the economic aspect strengthens the tendency for educational reproduction of social inequalities, which in the end can be economically dysfunctional. The authors emphasise the need for retreat from educational policies focused primarily on individual economic effectiveness - conceptualised through abstract holders of human capital - towards policies that combine the issue of human resources development with the question of structural inequalities in (mathematics) education and the wider society.