Critical theory

About: Critical theory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5372 publications have been published within this topic receiving 164765 citations.

The co-operative university: Labour, property and pedagogy

Abstract: I begin this article by discussing the recent work of academics and activists to identify the advantages and issues relating to co-operative forms of higher education, and then focus on the ‘worker co-operative’ organisational form and its applicability and suitability to the governance of and practices within higher educational institutions. Finally, I align the values and principles of worker co-ops with the critical pedagogic framework of ‘Student as Producer’. Throughout I employ the work of Karl Marx to theorise the role of labour and property in a ‘co-operative university’, drawing particularly on later Marxist writers who argue that Marx’s labour theory of value should be understood as a critique of labour under capitalism, rather than one developed from the standpoint of labour.

Holding Aesthetics and Ideology in Tension

Abstract: Studying imagery, irrespective of the kind, must focus equally upon its aesthetic attractiveness, its sensory lures, and its oftentimes dubious social ideology. The terms aesthetic and ideology are addressed as problematic and are defined in current, ordinary language terms: aesthetics as visual appearances and their effects and ideology as a style of thinking. Aesthetics, viewed as inherently ideological because it is a primary means by which ideology is inculcated, has become increasingly important to address in art education as the aestheticization of economics, politics, and everyday life has become increasingly pronounced. The Build-a-Bear Workshop® is offered as an example of aesthetic and ideology working together. Finally, a comparison is drawn between Schiller’s view of aesthetics as a means of social control and the current use of aesthetics to inculcate the late capitalist ideology of continual consumption and thus ensure socio-economic stability.

Critical leadership for education in a postmodern world: emancipation, resistance and communal action

Abstract: This article explores possibilities for critical approaches to leadership in contemporary schools. Focusing on recent critiques of so‐called traditional critical approaches by ‘postmodern’ scholars, I contrast their preferences for resistant over emancipatory (revolutionary) action with the former. In doing so I compare Marx's, Habermas’, Baudrillard's and Foucault's views of human regulation, the roles of the individual self or subject and the constitution and function of groups in their respective theories and assess their utility for critical leadership in education. I conclude that the key for a politics that will enable individuals to resist oppressive school practices rests with the ability of subjects to recognize and seek out forms of community they share with others. I conclude the article with an example of how one school employed these kinds of strategies.

Successful Leadership in Urban Schools: Principals and Critical Spirituality, A New Approach to Reform

Abstract: This article offers an alternative perspective on educational leadership based on the tenets of critical spirituality. It offers an educational leadership grounded in critical theory and African American spirituality. The two coalesce to provide school leaders with a conceptual frame that not only centers on academic achievement but academic achievement in a more equitable and democratic space. Critical spirituality dares to challenge leaders to serve as organic intellectuals and civil rights activists who have engaged in the spiritual exercises of critical self-reflection, deconstructtve interpretation or hermeneutics, performative creativity and transformative action, the four components of critical spirituality. Keywords: democracy, leadership, spirituality, reform INTRODUCTION Scholars and practitioners in the field of education are constantly exploring ways to improve schools. Numerous models have been developed, designed to bridge the achievement gaps among students, schools and school districts. Educational leadership has faced similar reform designs. The field of educational leadership has been critiqued through feminist, postmodern, critical, and critical race theoretical positions. Each of these portends a change in how school leadership is conceptualized and practiced. They all require that practicing as well as prospective school leaders contextualize the technical/managerial responsibilities of leadership widun the values, predispositions, and assumptions they individually hold as well as those extrinsically foisted on school leaders that so deeply impact their work. School leaders who are influenced by these progressive theoretical perspectives recognize the dualistic nature of educational leaders' work. They clearly see die technical as well as adaptive challenges (Heifetz, 1994; Heifetz & Linsky, 2002) involved in school leadership. However, these leaders understand diat while the technical challenges of leadership must be embraced, (the nuts and bolts of administration), it is the adaptive ones; those that involve beliefs, values and personal predispositions that substantively impact the effectiveness of their work. The adaptive nature of a leader's work actually operates from one's spiritual center. A person's spirituality is that ethereal part that establishes meaning in one's life. It dares to ask the hard ontological and teleological inquiries that help people to determine who they are and what their contributions to life will be. Spirituality is the instrument in our lives through which we build connectivity and community with others. Spirituality differs from religion in that religion is an institutionalized space where spirituality may be nurtured and celebrated. Religion is often used to codify moral behavior that works in collaboration witii civil authorities to domesticate a society's citizenry. Religion is the formally recognized space where spirituality is legitimately to reside. However, spirituality far transcends me boundaries of institutional religion. Spirituality may certainly be nurtured tiirough the auspices of the religious experience and may be articulated by some through the use of religious language but the ethereal nature of our lives may also be fostered through life's experiences, a relationship with nature, an appreciation for music and the arts, or even die dynamics of family and friendships. It is from one's spirituality that compassion, a sense of equity, understanding and passion toward others as well as the life's work to which one has been "called" emanate. Emmons (1999) defined spirituality as "a search for meaning, for unity, for connectedness, for transcendence, for the highest of human potential" (p. 92). Sergiovanni (1999) used a spiritual context to describe what he called leadership grounded in "purposing." He argued that purposing is a powerful force that focuses on human needs for a sense of what is important and of what is of value. …

Jürgen Habermas and the Dialectical Perspective on Argumentation

Abstract: Habermas' treatment of epistemological problems in his pursuit of a critical social theory may help us to understand the nature, significance, and promise of a dialectical perspective in the study of argumentation. This perspective is contrasted with logical and rhetorical perspectives, and its utility is explored within the context of Habermas' critical theory.