From Transactional Friction to Emergent Reattunement: Grounding Activity Systems in an Ecological-Emergent Ontology
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) May 26, 2026 Pål Christensson
Educational theory often separates societal structures from individual bodily experience. This article bridges that gap by proposing an ecological-emergent ontology of educational sense-making, using critical realism. It argues that the educational system's performative logic physically shapes classroom affordances, directing attention instrumentally and creating a clash with the body's natural striving for resonance—termed transactional friction. This friction can lead from visceral micro-breakdowns to systemic transformations. Expansive learning is redefined not as an abstract cognitive leap but as a collective, material reorganization of the affordance landscape, reclaiming the subject's being-in-the-world and preserving the risk inherent in Bildung.