The internationalization of critical pedagogy: an introduction

Critical pedagogy is fundamentally concerned with the relationship between education and power in society and, thus, uncompromisingly committed to the amelioration of inequalities and social exclusions in the classroom and society at large. Conceptually and in practice, this radical educational view contends forthrightly with the inextricability of power/knowledge relations. Critical pedagogy in the U.S. has drawn inspiration from a host of radical Western intellectuals of the 20th century. Most notably are the writings of Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, the Frankfurt school, Jürgen Harbermas, Michel Foucault, and others. These works were most formidably developed and expanded into a critical theory of education by U.S. intellectuals such as Henry Giroux, Peter McLaren, Michael Apple, Donaldo Macedo, bell hooks, Joe Kincheloe, Ira Shor, Antonia Darder, Douglas Kellner, Shirley Steinberg, and others.