Althusser and Education: Reassessing Critical Education (Radical Politics and Education)

Louis Althusser was one of the foremost Marxist philosophers of the 20th century. His thinking laid the groundwork for critical educational theory, yet it is often misunderstood in critical pedagogy and sociology of education. In this open access book, David Backer reexamines Althusser's philosophy of education, presents its flawed reception in critical educational research, and draws out what the philosophy has to offer us today. Correcting the record about Althusser's thinking in the traditional narrative of critical educational research becomes an opportunity to revisit fundamental questions for thinking about school in its social context. For students and researchers of education, critical theory, sociology of education, and critical pedagogy, this book will be a resource for rethinking the social foundations of education, both as a field and as a set of theoretical frameworks for educational research. This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Part I Education as an Ideological State Apparatus: Eleven Rules 1 An Attempt to Interpret the Events of May 2 The Rule of Keys: Social Reproduction 3 The Rule of Hands: Relations of Production 4 The Competency Rule 5 The Rule of Special Thirds: Base and Superstructure 6 The System, Toe, and Anchor Rules: ISA Basics 7 The Causality Rule: Grey Cows and Green Cheese 8 The Struggle Rule: The Necessity of Contingency 9 The School Rule 10 The Go Rule 11 Conclusion Part II The Common Sense about Althusser: Reassessing Critical Education 12 The Three Critiques 13 Foundations of Critical Education: Apple and Giroux’s Indecision 14 Roots of the Common Sense 15 A Frustrated Student: Rancière and the ISAs 16 Formalization of the Provocation: Erben and Gleesen 17 Against Generality: Hirst 18 A Trotskyite Calling Stalin: Callinicos 19 The Eagle’s Apostasy: E. P. Thompson 20 Ashes and Promiscuity: Willis and Connell 21 Conclusion Part III Structural Education: Toward an Althusserian Pedagogy 22 Developments in Structure 23 The Structure of Race in Education: From Hall to Leonardo 24 The Structure of Gender in Education: Wolpe, Barrett, Arnot, Deem, and Valli 25 Ideology in Struggle: Advances in Interpellation Conclusion Epilogue References Index Louis Althusser's thinking laid the groundwork for critical educational theory, yet it is often misunderstood in critical pedagogy, sociology of education, and related fields. In this open access book, David I. Backer reexamines Althusser's educational theory, specifically the claim that education is the most powerful ideological state apparatus in modern capitalist societies. He then presents this theory's flawed reception in critical educational research and draws out a lost tradition of educational thinking it inspired with important applications to race, gender, ideology, and the concept of social structure in education. Correcting the record about Althusser's thinking in the traditional narrative of critical educational research becomes an opportunity to revisit fundamental questions for thinking about school in its social context. For students and researchers of education, critical theory, sociology of education, and critical pedagogy, this book will be a resource for rethinking the social foundations of education, both as a field and as a set of theoretical frameworks for educational research. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. "Louis Althusser was one of the foremost Marxist philosophers of the 20th century. His thinking laid the groundwork for critical educational theory, yet it is often misunderstood in critical pedagogy and sociology of education. In this book, David Backer reexamines Althusser's philosophy of education, presents its flawed reception in critical educational research, and draws out what the philosophy has to offer us today. Correcting the record about Althusser's thinking in the traditional narrative of critical educational research becomes an opportunity to revisit fundamental questions for thinking about school in its social context. For students and researchers of education, critical theory, sociology of education, and critical pedagogy, this book will be a resource for rethinking the social foundations of education, both as a field and as a set of theoretical frameworks for educational research."-- Provided by publisher