Jane Addams's "Democracy and Social Ethics" is more than a historical artifact describing the work of a prominent social reformer. It is also a significant contribution to philosophy, especially in the area of social ethics. Moreover, though less widely acknowledged, Addams's work is essential for anyone who seeks an ethical vision for…

In this article, Rebecca Tarlau attempts to build a more robust theory of the relationship between education and social change by drawing on the conceptual tools offered in the critical pedagogy and social movement literatures. Tarlau argues that while critical pedagogy has been largely disconnected from its roots in political organizing, social…

In this article Sarah Stitzlein highlights an educational right that has been largely unacknowledged in the past but has recently gained significance given renewed citizen participation in displays of public outcry on our streets and in our town halls. Dissent is typically conceived of as a negative right--a liberty that guarantees that the…

In this essay, David Labaree examines the paradox of educationalization in the American context. He argues that, like most modern Western societies, the United States has displayed a strong tendency over the years for educationalizing social problems, even though schools have repeatedly proven that they are an ineffective mechanism for solving…

In this review essay, Jan Nespor uses three recent contributions to place-based education, Paul Theobald's "Teaching the Commons," C.A. Bowers's "Revitalizing the Commons," and David Gruenewald and Gregory Smith's edited volume "Place-Based Education in the Global Age," to examine some fundamental conceptual and practical issues in the area. One…

Educationalization is a term most frequently used to indicate that government (in particular) has inappropriately imposed on educational institutions responsibility for providing the solution to some social or economic problem. In this essay David Bridges illustrates, however, the way in which educational institutions collude in this process,…

Theorists often take a condescending stance when speaking about the educationalization of social problems. Given their confidence with postmodern and poststructuralist perspectives, the educationalization of social problems is easily perceived as a set of questionable interventions by governments into educational practices. In this essay, Bert…

Author's purpose is to scan the parallels between social reconstructionism and politicalization, relate the movements to some of John Dewey's beliefs, and examine some of the implications of the issue for colleges and universities today. (Author/CB)

The "deschooling" program of Ivan Illich is defended. (JD)

The Marxist theory that education has wide social implications and that it is not a derivative and one-sided activity, but rather a relationship in which both teacher and students are learners, is examined. (JD)

The history, philosophy, and objectives of the John Dewey Society are related. (JD)

While John Dewey and Bertrand Russell share certain fundamental similarities in thought on many major social issues, it is in their educational thought that the disparity is most evident. (JN)

Dewey's notion of applying the method of social intelligence to the solution of social problems is critically reviewed with special emphasis on his failure to come to terms with the question of concentrated social power in America. Theoretical ambiguities as well as unclear ideas on the practical agencies of social change are pointed out. (DS)

Developments in the fields of medicine and education, in conjunction with social conditions and intellectual climate, influenced the promotion of school based sex education in the late nineteenth century and on into the twentieth century. The complexity of the relationship between education and society is illustrated through an examination of how…

The radical critique of American education portrays the schools as perpetuators of ethnic, social, and racial inequalities because they do not alter existing class relations. John Rawls' theory of social justice is discussed as an alternative approach to this situation that remains firmly grounded in the liberal tradition. (PP)