Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework: Critical Social Theory and Critical Education Theory Many social issues occur in public and private schools concerning race, class, and gender. These social issues can be analyzed using the lens of critical social theory and critical education theory. These theoretical frameworks capture the social issues that occur in public and private schools and relate them to the society as a whole. More specifically, the critical social theory and critical education theory considers the relationship between social change and social struggle (Clark, 2006). I will discuss below how critical social theory and critical education theory relates to the social issues found in public and private education institutions, but first I will discuss the basics of critical theory and critical social theory. Critical Theory In general, critical theory points out that societies of the West are problematically democratic and free (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). Critical researchers understand the relationship between social structures and ideological patterns of thought, especially concerning the limiting of confronting and changing unjust social systems (Clark, 2006). Critical theorists and researchers apply their work to criticize social issues in education systems and create basic assumptions about those social situations (Kincheloe & McLaren, 2005). Critical Social Theory Critical social theory is a broader category of theoretical production than critical theory and includes subsets such as sociological theory, race and ethnic theory, cultural theory and literary theory (Leonardo, 2004). This theory was used predominantly in the Frankfurt School in Germany (Leonardo et al 2004). A critical social theorist is p... ... middle of paper ... ...t parents are presented with the option to enroll their child in another school, but in most cases low socioeconomic families cannot afford to take their child out of a poor performing public school and into better performing public schools or private schools. This is because the parents have an inability to make enough money to provide transportation to take their children to schools outside of their neighborhood community. Conclusion There are social struggles that are observed in society. Those same struggles are also noticed in public and private schools. They stem from inequalities in race and socioeconomic class. By using the lens of critical social theory and critical education theory, those struggles are recognized and interpreted. In my next chapter, I will discuss what methods of data collection I used in my study and the specifics of my study.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) began in the field of law and has been used as a theoretical framework in educational research for over 15 years (Savas, 2014). Gloria-Ladson-Bilings and William F.Tate IV’s wrote an article, “Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education”, in 1995 and began the use of Critical Race Theory as a lens for future studies in education. The first tenet of CRT looks at race and racism through historical contexts. To explore this tenet, I will take a brief glance back to the beginning of our country and the beginning of white as a superior race.
The students in the school are shied away and even denied opportunities for higher education by the teachers, “Many have been discouraged or prevented from pursuing academic or work goals” (Kivel 44). From not believing in the students to not wanting them to get further ahead in life, the teachers in this low budgeted, racist school are sacrificing the students future in the name of institutionalized racism. This causes the students to remain in the same social class for another generation, once again, starting the cycle of integrated racism in the schools and surrounding
Critical theory consists of six components which include the following: historical context of the situation, power distribution, self- reflection, non-judgemental inquiry, acknowledgement of values and taking action (Salas et
Critical race theory (CRT) is a framework that may be useful for examining how racial climate impacts the undergraduate experiences of African-American students on college campuses (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010). CRT draws from a broad base of literature in sociology, history, ethnic studies, women’s study, and law (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010). CRT consists of five elements: 1) the centrality of race and racism, and their intersectionality with other forms of subordination, 2) the challenge to dominant ideology, 3) the commitment to social justice, 4) the centrality of experiential knowledge, and 5) the transdisciplinary perspective (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010). Applying CRT to education is different than other CRT applications as it challenges traditional paradigms, methods, texts, and separate discourse of race, gender, and class by showing how social constructs intersect to impact on communities of color (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore,
Massey et al. states, “To put it crudely, parents of upper-class children have no interest in devoting resources to the education of lower-class children, so that poor and working-class students end up going to lousy schools to receive a lousy education to prepare them for the lousy jobs they will hold as adults.” (Massey et al., 20). This example shows in a simple manner how critical theory functions to generate socioeconomic inequality because the lousy schools that poor and working-class students have to attend are the result of not enough resources going into the educations of lower-class children. Massey et al. shows that the structure of dominance is generating a system that disadvantages historically underrepresented students. Furthermore, hooks writes, “That shift from beloved, all-black schools to white schools where black students were always seen as interlopers, as not really belonging, taught me the difference between education as the practice of freedom and education that merely strives to reinforce domination.” (hooks, 3). hooks was disadvantaged because she was not accustomed to the segregated school as the white students were. Critical Theory states that inequality is reproduced by specific institutional arrangements, such as the arrangements that hooks dealt with. In addition to the experiences in higher education due to the structure of dominance, hooks
Various theorists under the umbrella of critical social theory believe that all subordinate groups are oppressed on personal, cultural and institutional levels by visible and invisible structures as well as by conscious and unconscious means. (Mullaly, 2010 ).
The classic forms of social criticism were developed and applied in practice, even in ancient philosophy by Xenophanes, Socrates, Plato and the Cynics. The interest in critical thinking has never waned in the social and political thought, but social criticism reached true prosperity in the Enlightenment. Voltaire and Rousseau, Montesquieu and Locke, Hume, and Kant saw the most important means of formation of free and responsible citizens, harmonious and creative personality in a critical attitude towards the institutions and values. A new wave of criticism of social philosophy, implemented in classical forms, is associated with the names of the supporters of the revolutionary transformation of society. First of all, there may be mentioned the names of Marx, Bakunin, and Proudhon (Lavery, Hughes, & Doran, 2009).
Elder, Linda. “The 18th International Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform.” 18th International Conference on Critical Thinking. 4 Aug. 1998. The Center for Critical Thinking <http://www.criticalthinking.org/University/univcomm/conf/conftext.nclk>.
We live in a society where race is seen as a vital part of our personalities, the lack of racial identity is very often an important factor which prevent people from not having their own identity (Omi & Winant, 1993). Racism is extemely ingrained in our society and it seems ordinary (Delgado & Stefanic, 2000), however, many people denounce the expression of any racist belief as immoral (Miles & Brown, 2003) highlighting the complicated nature of racism. Critical Race Theory tries to shed light on the issue of racism claiming that racism is ingrained in our society both in legal, cultural, and psychological aspects of social life (Tate, 1997). This essay provides us the opportunity to explore this theory and its influence in the field of education. The fisrt chapter is about the origins and the purpose of CRT, the second chapter is an analysis of the methodological tools of CRT, the third chapter highlights the key themes of CRT, the forth chapter provide us some useful information about the racial inequalities in education and the last chapter is about the influence of CRT in education and the way that it helps us to understand some racial inequalities that they take place in the field of education.
The children and teachers Kozol interviews come from various urban cities in the nation – New York, Ohio and Massachusetts. Critical Race Theory came to mind throughout the reading because children facing injustices in the public school system are predominantly African-American and Latino. Although some of the schools presented in book claim diversity, school demographics show that there is very little diversity in those schools (Kozol, 2005, pp. 20-22). As such, the children from other ethnic backgrounds attending poorly funded schools are there because of their families’ low-incomes.
The dropout rates of young African Americans, Hispanics and other ethnic minorities are more than double the rate of whites (Petit P. 2). According to Achil Petit, recipient of the Master of Science Degree in Education Administration and Ed.D. Program in Executive Leadership, one in four of those dropouts are incarcerated every day in America (P. 1). There are many reasons behind the struggles minorities face in the education system. Yet, no issues weigh as heavily on minorities in America as race. Scholars in the United States have looked at racial issues through the lens of the Critical Race Theory, or CRT. Dating back to Brown vs. Board of Education and when the US finally decided to end segregation, the CRT is the study of how people see race (P. 5). As an ignorant form of discrimination, racism has mostly died out. Yet, the differences associated within each race and culture are are clearly visible to everyone in society. Whether or not belligerent discrimination is taking place does not effect one simple fact, America is predominately white. Why is this important? This fact has a subtle, but measurable effect on minorities. Reason being, minorities inside of American schooling structures see themselves as outside the dominant race, even to this day (29). For minorities not to feel like a part of the general cultural in a schooling system,
The critical case study to the novel establishes a definition of a type of critical response, and then gives as close an example that fits that mode of criticism—BORING! First, the book has these forms of criticism laid out contiguously, as if they occurred only spatially and not temporally. This flattened and skewed representation of critical approaches, taking an argument out of its context (an academic debate) and uses it as if it were a pedagogical tool. Just as criticism in many ways takes the life out of the text, by dissecting it and making it a part of an argument, the “model critical approach” takes the life out of criticism.
“Social Justice in Education” by R. W. Connell discusses the role of education in society and the implications that social justice issues have on education. Connell begins by establishing that education and social justice can be examined separately yet they are inescapably linked through the social medium of their implementation. “Education concerns schools, colleges and universities, whose business is to pass knowledge on to the next generation. Social justice is about income, employment, pensions or physical assets like housing.”(Connell, 1993) Three points validating the equal importance of social justice and the education system to people of all delineations are: 1.) in Western society public schools are key forums of social interaction and comprise some of the largest social institutions 2.) educational institutions are highly economic bodies and have become “major public assets” (Connell, 1993) 3.) teaching becomes a vehicle by which society is ultimately determined and has a great influence over society’s morality. Connell describes the meaning of justice in education as being “a question of fairness in distribution… equality.”(Connell, 1993) “Justice cannot be achieved by distributing the same… standard good to… all social classes.”(Connell, 1993) By stating this, Connell summarizes that in the attempt to achieve equality, unequal means must be employed.
The theoretical perspective used in this paper is one of critical race theory, however, it could be viewed through the lens of Critical theory when discussing childhood poverty as a
Similar to interpretivist researchers, critical researchers recognize that research is not value free, but they go further in that the goal of the research is to actively challenge interpretations and values in order to bring about change (Vine, 2009). The paradigm of critical research originated from the critical theory; credits of this model are George Hegel (eighteenth century) and Karl Marx (nineteenth century). This research theory seeks to contradict the preceding theories and models regarding society. Transformative researchers felt that the interpretivist/constructivist approach to research did not adequately address issues of social justice and marginalized people (Creswell, 2003, p.9). Researchers, who use this approach, analyze previous theoretical claims, questioning preceding findings and conclusions.