Robert Owen

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This text offers a major reassessment of the life and thought of the distinguished 19th century industrial philanthropist and educational reformer, Robert Owen. In a period when Owens radical new visions for learning and teaching, adult and vocational pedagogy and social transformation are receiving fresh and global attention, Robert Davis and Frank OHagan place Owens thought right at the heart of the Enlightenment advocacy of popular, democratic mass education. Tracing both the ancestry and the legacy of Owens reforming spirit, they also offer a critical appraisal of the relevance of his ideas for the development of education at all levels and stages in the challenging contexts of international 21st century education.

Reviews

Robert Owen provides a penetrating and compelling account of the influence and relevance of Owen today, an 'ambivalent legacy' as Davis and O'Hagan argue, balanced between a new world utopianism and Scottish Enlightenment rationality. This is an excellent, thought-provoking and exciting introduction to the education thought of Robert Owen, one of the most remarkable reformers of the industrial age and one of its most impassioned educational thinkers. -- Michael A. Peters, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US

Author Bio

Robert A. Davis is Professor of Religious and Cultural Education and Head of School of Education in the University of Glasgow, UK. He has taught and written widely on the history of education and the cultural understanding of childhood.

Frank OHagan recently retired as Lecturer in History in the School of Education in the University of Glasgow, UK. Alongside his continuing academic interests, he is also a successful composer and musician.