Codes and (re)production of emotional culture in Basil Bernstein’s concept

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to indicate a relationship between codes and transmission of emotional culture patterns. The theoretical framework is Basil Bernstein’s concept, which is applied to describe emotional culture scripts in their different communication contexts. It is assumed and discussed that both open-role and closed-role systems, and the corresponding elaborated and restricted codes influence children’s emotional competence. It is probable that in the open-role system, the patterns of emotional culture are more individualistic, while in the restricted-code more collective. An open-code educational situation involves talking about emotions and is based on self-control. On the other hand, a restricted-code may result in poor emotional language and lack of internal control. In adopting a sociolinguistic lens I wanted to draw attention to the importance of communication of and about emotions in the educational environment. The article ends with a comparison of emotional competence dimensions formed in different communication systems.