Ryan P.
Randall
Indiana University
LIS Education and New
Conceptions Of
Democracy

Credit Hours Semester
FOUNDATION COURSES (18 cr.)
● Z501 User Services and Tools
● Z503 Representation and Organization
● Complete one course from the following: COURSE #
Z552 Academic Library Management
● Complete one course from the following: COURSE #
Z506 Introduction to Research
Z519 Evaluation of Information Systems
● Complete one course from the following: COURSE #
Z511 Database Design Z512 Information Systems Design
Z516 Human Computer Interaction Z517 Web Programming
Z532 Information Architecture for the Web Z534 Information Retrieval
Z554 Library Systems Z556 Systems Analysis and Design
Z634 Metadata Z636 Data Semantics
Z637 Information Visualization Z652 Digital Libraries
Z656 Information Technology Standardization Z661 Concepts and Contemporary Issues in Human-Computer Interaction
● Z605 Internship in Library and Information Science*
*Must complete 18 ILS credits before taking and an approval form is required.
Internship at:
3 cr.
Master of Library Science
Degree Requirements Checklist
36 DEGREE CREDIT HOURS
3 cr.
3 cr.
Z551 Library Management
Z553 Public Library Management
Z505 Evaluation of Resources and Services
3 cr.
3 cr.
3 cr.
MLS Requirements at IU
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 2

Christine Pawley, “Hegemony’s
Handmaid?”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 3
“Hegemony’s Handmaid? The Library
and Information Studies Curriculum from
a Class Perspective.” The Library Quarterly
68.2 (1998): 123-144. Web.

 Hegemony
 Class
 Pluralism
 Managerialism
Christine Pawley, “Hegemony’s
Handmaid?”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 4

 Hegemony
 Class
 Pluralism
 Managerialism
Christine Pawley, “Hegemony’s
Handmaid?”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 5
From Antonio Gramsci:
“…a powerful group achieves hegemony
when it gains control over a range of
values and norms, to the extent that
these are so embedded in society that
they receive unquestioned acceptance”
(127)

 Hegemony
 Class
 Pluralism
 Managerialism
Christine Pawley, “Hegemony’s
Handmaid?”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 6
Defines via E.P. Thompson:
“…how people actively make sense of
their experiences, values, and traditions
and how groups of people struggle to
create and maintain a sense of identity,”
which “…entails the notion of historical
relationship” (126)

 Hegemony
 Class
 Pluralism
 Managerialism
Christine Pawley, “Hegemony’s
Handmaid?”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 7
Takes the individual as unit of analysis.
Key concepts are the individual,
behavior, conflict of interests,
participation, and consensus.
Reinforces market, individual access,
exchange of ideas.

 Hegemony
 Class
 Pluralism
 Managerialism
Christine Pawley, “Hegemony’s
Handmaid?”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 8
Takes the organization as its level of
analysis.
Key concepts are bureaucracy, elite,
rationality, formal vs informal, and
simple vs complex.
Instead of market-based competition,
gives power to elites, scientific study,
and rationality.

Mark C. E. Peterson, “Grassroots and Habermas
in West Bend: Some Reflections”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 9
“Grassroots and Habermas in West Bend:
Some Reflections.” Library Trends 64.2
(2014): 750-758. Web.

 Public sphere
 Enlightenment
values vs
Consumer
values
 Authority by
rational
discourse vs by
customer
satisfaction
Mark C. E. Peterson, “Grassroots and Habermas
in West Bend: Some Reflections”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 10
Jürgen Habermas’s theories, via John
Buschman
Authority in the public sphere depends
on modes related to historically
dominant socio-economic groups.
Appeals to authority are therefore
historically dependent.
Peterson laments the change from
authority via Enlightenment rationality
to current consumer satisfaction model

Chantal Mouffe, “Agonistic Democracy”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 11
Agonistics: Thinking the World Politically.
(2013)
The Democratic Paradox. (2000)
The Return of the Political. (1993)
Dimensions of Radical Democracy:
Pluralism, Citizenship, Community.
(1992)

 Agonistic
pluralism
 Conflictual
consensus
 Pluralist
democracy
Chantal Mouffe, “Agonistic Democracy”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 12

 Agonistic
pluralism
 Conflictual
consensus
 Pluralist
democracy
Chantal Mouffe, “Agonistic Democracy”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 13
“Conflict in liberal democratic societies
cannot and should not be eradicated,
since the specificity of pluralist
democracy is precisely the recognition
and the legitimation of conflict.”
“To put it in another way, what is
important is that conflict does not take
the form of an ‘antagonism’ (struggle
between enemies) but the form of an
‘agonism’ (struggle between
adversaries).”

 Agonistic
pluralism
 Conflictual
consensus
 Pluralist
democracy
Chantal Mouffe, “Agonistic Democracy”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 14
“The prime task of democratic politics is
not to eliminate passions or to relegate
them to the private sphere in order to
establish a rational consensus in the
public sphere.
Rather, it is to ‘sublimate’ those passions
by mobilizing them towards democratic
designs, by creating collective forms of
identification around democratic
objectives.”

 Agonistic
pluralism
 Conflictual
consensus
 Pluralist
democracy
Chantal Mouffe, “Agonistic Democracy”
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 15
“In a pluralist democracy, disagreements
about how to interpret the shared
ethico-political principles are not only
legitimate but also necessary. ”

 Hegemony
 Pluralism
 Managerialism
 Conflictual
consensus
 Agonism aka
Pluralist
democracy
Conclusion: LIS Terms for Democracy
Ryan P. Randall ∴ 2015 Symposium on LIS Education ∴ 2015-04-11 16
With these concepts, hopefully we can
better address the distinct challenges
faced by library and information
workers.
Thanks!