Rethinking knowledge within higher education : Adorno and social justice / Jan McArthur.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McArthur, Jan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Adorno, Theodor W., 1903-1969--Political and social views.

Adorno, Theodor W.

Critical theory.

Education, Higher.

Social justice.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 186 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

Summary:

Rethinking Knowledge within Higher Education argues for a higher education that is neither a romantic idyll of learning for its own sake nor an instrumental institution designed to train a willing workforce for the prevailing economic system. Instead, using analysis informed by critical theorist Theodor Adorno, this book argues that higher education should have social and economic roles at its heart, and that these should encompass the needs of all society. The key to achieving this purpose without privilege lies in the ways in which knowledge is understood and engaged with in higher education. Higher education has a special role in society as a place in which complex, contested and dynamic knowledge is engaged with, challenged and created. The realization of this purpose challenges traditional dichotomies between economic and social purposes, liberal and vocational education, and theory and practice. Jan McArthur shows that by interpreting and adapting some of Adorno's most complex ideas, the nature of knowledge and the pursuit of social justice within higher education is feasible and aspirational

Contents:

Knowledge and social justice in higher education

Approaches to critical theory and critical pedagogy

The importance of knowledge being not easily known

Beyond standardized engagement with knowledge

The social implications of engaging with knowledge in higher education

Challenging the theory-practice dichotomy

Towards a higher education transcending both the elite and the mainstream.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

978128390886

9781472553225

1472553225

9781283950886

128395088X

9781441196330

1441196331

OCLC:

827209756