Revolutionary Social Transformation Democratic Hopes, Political Possibilities and Critical Education

Subjects:

• Education » Educational Foundations
• Political Science » Political Philosophy

Reviews:

• ...provides an important addition to the libraries of educators wishing to advance their rudimentary understanding of Marx, Freire, and Gramsci.
  —Interchange
• ...the text may be useful to those not yet familiar with the power, breadth and vision of Marx's analysis.
  —Philosophy in Review
• ...Paula Allman's book is a tour de force. It is rigorous, it provides deep knowledge of Marx, Gramsci, and Freire, and it is inspiring in the use of these three figures' ideas to promote radically democratic social relations.
  —The Adult Education Quarterly

• Endorsement From Right Honorable Tony Benn MP (House of Commons, London): This is a well-argued book containing a radical analysis of injustice and how we must organize ourselves collectively to eradicate it. It emphasizes that we need both consciousness and education if we are to work for transformation rather than reform. A thoughtful new presentation of Marxist ideas based upon the author's own experience in education, emphasizing the importance of the struggles that lie ahead.
• Endorsement From Ian S. Martin, Senior Lecturer
  Department of Community Education, University of Edinburgh: A welcome and timely antidote to the ludic temporising of much fashionable 'postmodern theorising' about education for social change in today's world....It shows us how to be strategic about our visions and visionary about our strategies.
• Endorsement From Jane Thompson
  National Organisation for Adult Learning (NIACE) UK: What Paula Allman does - systematically, authoritatively and, in my opinion, triumphantly - is to reinsert Marxist theory at the heart of the contemporary debate about radical education. A detailed reading of Marx, Gramsci, and Freire and of their contribution to revolutionary transformation. Allman, as ever, is principled and hopeful.

Table of Contents:

• Preface by Peter McLaren
• Introduction by Henry A. Giroux
• Introduction: Rationale and Orientation
• The Vision
• Consciousness
• Dialectical Conceptualization: Towards a Dialectical Understanding of Capitalism
• Education and Social Transformation: The Ideas of Freire and Gramsci
• More on Visions: Re-Creating Our Concepts of Democracy, Truth, and Equality
• Further Readings
• Index