ABSTRACT
The world society emphasis on models of reality, and how these operate as rationalising and legitimating myths, is consistent with the second perspective. The actors are not just influenced by their environments; the latter constitutes them. The reconstitution of dynasties and colonies into nation-states required an environment that provided them with a nation-state blueprint and, over time, with mass schooling as a nation-state project that further legitimated their status as a nation-state in a world of nationstates. At the other end of the continuum many of the features of personhood we now take for granted, including a sense of agency, also required changes in how peoples are envisioned. These are broad cultural shifts, but it is the universalism of these changes that constitutes a significant break with past models: all are educable, all are capable of getting better, all can develop, and education is central to individual and societal development. Note the universalism underlying human capital and human rights perspectives. All nation-states are expected to act as if investing in the entire population (or at least acting as if they all count) makes sense. All nation-states are expected to act as if they care about human rights.
