This paper presents a critical examination of the work of Christopher Lasch. The individual's growing sense of helplessness, the development of a "minimal self," the impact of mass culture on education, Lasch's proposals to resolve the culture crisis, and the relevance of Lasch's views to the reform of social education are addressed. (MT)

This article analyzes the importance of extending literacy as both a historical and social construct for engaging the discourse of domination and for defining critical pedagogy as a form of cultural politics. Paulo Freire's Model of Emancipatory Literacy is discussed, and its implications for developing a radical pedagogy are explored. (MT)

The author proposes a theory of power which explains important features of social and political life from the point of view that a more democratic and equalitarian organization of society is possible and desirable, and that education can play a role in attaining that kind of society. (MT)