Social Movements, Civil Society, and Radical Adult Education

Subjects:

• Education » Adult/Continuing Education
• Education » Educational Foundations
• Sociology » Sociology (General)

Reviews:

• This book is not easy reading, but is valuable. It is spirited challenge to soft critiques of global capitalism among many educators. The author presents less than a full account of positions with which he disagrees, and some readers may want to balance Holst with radical pluralists' and socialists' own accounts of social movement theory. The bibliographic entries on social movements and civil society and adult education's treatment of these subjects are valuable, and overall this is a well-written and timely book.
  —Noel Keough, University of Calgary, Canada 2003
• [A] unique and provocative perspective on education in America....well researched and carefully argued.
  —Controversia March 2003

• Endorsement From Peter Mayo
  Associate Professor, University of Malta: John Holst helps bring the historical materialist tradition back into the reckoning in the literature on radical and transformative adult education. This inspiring book is a must for anyone interested in the area of adult education for social transformation as part of a larger and more comprehensive struggle for economic redistribution and social justice.
• Endorsement From Tara J. Fenwick
  Associate Professor, University of Alberta: Here is a bold and incisive argument, calling adult educators to account....Joining scholars like Allman and Youngman, Holst restores a robust vision of revolutionary praxis in a desperate world.
• Endorsement From Mark Murphy, Ph.D.
  Lecturer in Education, University of Stirling, Scotland: Those who espouse to be 'radical' adult educators need to get themselves a copy of John Holst's book. In a brave and unambiguous approach to civil society and social movements, Holst provides a compelling and lucid case for reasserting a Marxist socialist agenda for adult education.
• Endorsement From Paula Allman
  author, Revolutionary Social Transformation: Theoretically grounded in Marx, Gramsci, and Lenin, this is the book we've waited for and the book we need. The clear articulation of the relationship between social movements and civil society makes Holst's work absolutely essential reading for radical/critical educators.
• Endorsement From Nelson Peery
  League of Revolutionaries for a New America: This uncompromising, deeply theoretical, understandable polemic is needed for educators in classrooms, in unions, on the soap box or the internet.
• Endorsement From Stephen Brookfield
  Distinguished Professor, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota: Holst blends theoretical sophistication with activist momentum to argue for the enduring relevance of a socialist vision of adult education.
• Endorsement From Kjell Rubenson, Ph.D.
  Professor of Adult Education, University of British Columbia: A brilliant contribution to the radical tradition of adult education. Holst convincingly demonstrates how progressive adult education scholars have used the writings of Marx, Gramsci, and Freire in selective and problematic ways. The author provides a thoughtful and inspirational way of returning to the fundamental ideas of these thinkers.

Table of Contents:

• Series Foreword by Henry A. Giroux
• Foreword by Peter McLaren
• Preface
• Contextualizing the Contemporary Interest in Social Movements and Civil Society in Radical Adult Education Theory and Practice
• The Sociology and Politics of Social Movements
• Civil Society within the Marxist Tradition and Beyond
• Adult Education, Social Movements and Civil Society
• Gramsci's Concept of Civil Society Revisited: Implications for a Reconceptualization of Radical Adult Education Theory and Practice
• References
• Index