Legitimizing biopolitics in high school textbooks : the case of abortion and homosexuality

This study examines how knowledge about two biopolitical topics – abortion and homosexuality – are constructed and legitimized in high school textbooks in Poland. The research method used was qualitative content analysis. The study identified distinct legitimation strategies characterizing each of the subjects analyzed – social studies and family life education. Social studies textbooks emphasize legal arguments and highlight the struggle for subjectivity of excluded individuals and groups, while also noting the diverse perspectives from which the issues discussed can be assessed. The family life education textbook, meanwhile, accentuates the significance of the causes of the phenomena under discussion, using pejorative language to put students off abortion and homosexuality. The applied approach may offer a productive lens for analyzing how particular visions of reality are constructed in school education, and for illuminating what is marginalized, restricted, or overrepresented in teaching materials in relation to the interests of power.