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Critique and Utopia: New Developments in the Sociology of Education in the Twenty-First Century
Author(s): Carlos Alberto Torres (Editor), Antonio Teodoro
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (UK)
- Publication Date: 4 April 2007
- Language: English
- Print length: 192 pages
- ISBN-10: 074253846X
- ISBN-13: 9780742538467
Book Description
Critique and utopia are two of the central concepts of the sociology of education, and they indeed exemplify the critical traditions in the sociology of education as a discipline. This book analyzes, using theoretical frameworks and empirical data, the state of the art of the sociology of education at the beginning of the century, offering a systematic criticism of the dominant theories, and findings in the sociology of education. Key chapters focus on theoreticians who have made an impact in the discipline, including Basil Bernstein, Pierre Bourdieu, Paulo Freire. Yet, there is much more than theoretical analysis in this book. It also offers insights for policy and practice in diverse areas of education, including the formal, nonformal, and informal modalities of educational praxis.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This set of essays by prominent international scholars provides exciting new perspectives on the challenges facing education systems in a period of intensified globalization. Moving beyond penetrating critiques of the role national school systems play in maintaining inequitable social structures, the authors offer alternative visions of a liberating education that will lead to more just and democratic societies. The section on theoretical frameworks introduces fresh insights on the scholarly contributions of Basil Bernstein, Pierre Bourdieu, and Paulo Freire to a transformative education. Critique and Utopia will be of particular interest to students in the sociology of education, comparative and international education, and policy studies. — Robert F. Arnove
This book provides a significant contribution to the sociology of education. Bringing together current academic debates in Europe and the Americas, the volume connects theoretical debates with empirical data, and a critical analysis of our existing social reality with a language of possibility and transformation. Critique and Utopia: New Developments in the Sociology of Education in the Twenty First Century is an important reading for all those interested in the role that education plays – and could play – in the struggles for democracy in the current context of neoliberal globalization and beyond. — Daniel Schugurensky, University of Arizona
About the Author
Carlos Alberto Torres, Anthony Welch, Susan Wiksten About the Editors Carlos Alberto Torres is Distinguished Professor of Education, Director of the UCLA Paulo Freire Institute, and former UNESCO-UCLA Chair in Global Learning and Global Citizenship Education. Torres is a political sociologist of education. He was educated in Argentina, Mexico, the United States and Canada. He is also Founding Director of the Paulo Freire Institute in São Paulo, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and UCLA. Torres is Past President of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES), Past President of the Research Committee of Sociology of Education, International Sociological Association, and Past President of the Comparative and International Society (CIES-US). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Corresponding Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. He has published over 60 books and more than 300 peer research articles, and received three Fulbright grants. Robert F. Arnove, lead co-editor of the previous four editions of Comparative Education: The Dialectic of the Global and the Local, as well as the co-editor of Emergent Trends in Comparative Education: The Dialectic of the Global and Local, is Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is a Past President and Honorary Fellow of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES). A visiting scholar at universities ranging from Argentina to Australia, he has published extensively on the contours, dimensions, and major trends in the field of comparative education with a focus on education and sociopolitical exchange. His latest book, Talent Abounds, examines teaching and mentoring interactions and societal policies that can foster peak performance in various domains of the arts and athletics for all students. He has been a teachers union president, a third party candidate for the U.S. Congress, and the president of an experimental theater company in Bloomington, Indiana.
