Democracy, Education, and Multiculturalism
Dilemmas of Citizenship in a Global World
By (author) Carlos Alberto Torres
Not available to order
Publication date:
29 October 1998Length of book:
310 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9780742576605
This important book looks at developments that are changing our understanding of the role of education in citizenship and the possibilities of democratic participation. The first chapter reviews theories of citizenship and education based on the classical contributions to political theory of C.B. MacPherson and T.H. Marshall. The second chapter challenges educators to think more politically about education. It is based on a seminal analysis that shows the role education plays in the liberal, neoliberal, and neoconservative state, incorporating critical perspectives from neo-Marxism, postmodernism, and feminism. In chapter three Professor Torres analyzes the transition from the welfare state to the neoliberal state, including the role of international organizations in promoting educational reform and privatization policies. In the concluding chapter Torres draws on Hobbes, Locke, Jefferson, Kant, Hegel, Marx and other writers such as C. Mouffe and C. Pateman to outline contemporary approaches to multiculturalism in education and citizenship.
Torres' book undertakes a serious reconceptualization of democracy, multiculturalism, and citizenship in the changing global context of educational policy and practice today. The implications of these changes are profound and challenging. Torres draws from an impressive breadth of theoretical literatures, explaining them and relating them to each other clearly and creatively. Torres' book is a major step forward in educational theorizing....