Democracy, Education, and Multiculturalism: Dilemmas of Citizenship in a Global World

(Paperback)

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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.

Reviews

Carlos Torres is one of the most perceptive critical scholars in education in the world. This book shows why. He synthesizes an immense amount of theoretical and empirical material and advances new and challenging ways to connect the struggles for democracy with those involving citizenship and multicultural education. This is a work of lasting value. -- Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison; author, This is a critical book that reclaims the importance of the political in educational life while at the same time expanding its meaning and importance in a rapidly changing world. Anyone concerned about the role of education in deepening and expanding the meaning and relevance for democracy and social justice should buy this book immediately. -- Henry A. Giroux, McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest
Torres comprehensvely analyzes the potential linkages between the theories and outlines the broad theoretical developments. -- John P. Meyers, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto * Alberta Journal of Education *
...well-written and well-argued book. * Latin American Studies *
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. -- Nicholas C. Burbules, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Author Bio

Carlos Alberto Torres is professor in the Graduate School of Education and director of the Latin American Studies Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.