Premium
ENGAGING DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION IN THE NEOLIBERAL AGE
Author(s) -
Marginson Simon
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
educational theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1741-5446
pISSN - 0013-2004
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-5446.2006.00012.x
Subject(s) - democracy , democratization , democratic education , sociology , democratic ideals , commodification , vanguard , education theory , political science , law , higher education , politics , economics , archaeology , market economy , history
A bstract For the democratic tradition to return to a vanguard position in education requires a thorough exploration of the problems of democratization in education and an inventory of possible new forms. In this essay, Simon Marginson reviews five books concerned with democracy and education: Michael Apple’s Educating the “Right” Way , Denis Carlson’s Leaving Safe Harbors , A. Belden Fields and Walter Feinberg’s Education and Democratic Theory , Trevor Gale and Kathleen Densmore’s Engaging Teachers , and Klas Roth’s Democracy, Education and Citizenship . While these authors imagine democracy in somewhat different ways, they have a common interest in the role of public schooling in the formation of democratic agents and practices. The books do not offer a definitive account of the problems of democratization, nor do they embody a major breakthrough in democratic educational thinking, but they all provide helpful explorations of these issues. Marginson concludes with some thoughts on commodification and neoliberal economism in education, a contemporary focus of discussion in democratic educational circles.