Teaching Marx Critical Theory In The 21st Century

In Teaching Marx & Critical Theory in the 21st Century, authors reflect on, and offer radical arguments regarding, the crucial importance of Marx, critical theory, and critical pedagogy in the 21st century. The essays represent various disciplines while commenting broadly on the need for an engaged, radical critique of the neoliberal paradigm.

We are in the midst of yet another global crisis in capitalism. In the UK, we have the most right wing and ideologically driven government since Thatcher; a ruthless cabal of millionaires intent on destroying the welfare state. In the US, President Obama, whose initial record did not live up to the expectations of many on the Left, is increasingly driven by right-wing republicanism and other corporate interests. At the same time, there are developments in Latin America, in particular Venezuela, which are heralding the dawn of a new politics, and recovering the voice of Marx, but with a twenty-first century socialist focus, thus giving hope to the lives of millions of working people throughout the world. This is why the world media is intent on discrediting President Hugo Chávez; and insisting that ordinary people have to pay the cost of the crisis in capitalism. The Arab Spring and the Occupy movement also show signs of an anti-capitalist movement in embryo. In Greece, perhaps more than anywhere else in Europe (even France), the austerity-stricken working-classes are pushing for real existing socialism. It is therefore not surprising that the ruling class of Greece is increasingly supporting the neo-Nazi, fascist Golden Dawn party threatening civil war should they lose power as a class. Now is a prescient time to bring twenty-first century socialism to the educational institutions of the world, to teach Marx across the curriculum and across the globe. Through this volume our goal was to contribute to the literature by concretely demonstrating the practical implications of Marx’s theory to curriculum. However, while this book provides concrete examples of how Marx can and has informed a revolutionary critical education, it is not intended to be prescriptive. That is, the chapters should not be read as a how to guide, but they should be taken as inspiration for new, creative approaches to Teaching Marx and interpreting and posing The Socialist Challenge.

The current resurgence of Marxism is based on new sources of inspiration and creativity from movements that seek democratic, egalitarian and ecological alternatives to capitalism. The Marxism of many of these movements is neither dogmatic nor prescriptive, but rather, open, searching, utopian. It revolves around four primary factors: the importance of democracy for an emancipatory project; the ecological limits of capitalism; the crisis of global capitalism; and the learning of lessons from the failures of Marxist-inspired experiments. Marxisms in the Twenty-First Century challenges vanguardist Marxism featured in South Africa and beyond. Featuring leading thinkers from the Left, the book offers provocative ideas on interpreting our current world and serves as an excellent introduction to new ways of thinking about Marxism to students and scholars in the field. Many anti-capitalist traditions and themes - including democracy, globalisation, feminism, critique and ecology inform and shape the contributions in this volume.

This book, now in its second edition, focuses on the challenge to Marxism posed by Critical Race Theory as this relates to educational theory, policy, and practices with respect to both the US and UK. Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the realm of Education has a long history in the US, and is now a burgeoning field of inquiry in the UK. Critical Race Theory and Education is the first book-length response to CRT from a Marxist perspective and looks at CRT's origins in Critical Legal Studies, critiques the work of major US and UK Critical Race theorists, and also looks at some of CRT's strengths. CRT and Marxism are contextualized with respect to both neo-liberal global capitalism and imperialism and to anti-racist socialist developments in South America. The book concludes with some suggestions for classroom practice.

This Encyclopaedia of Marxism and Education showcases the explanatory power of Marxist educational theory and practice.

This book offers teachers a sequence of lessons that provide students with a clear understanding of Marxist Theory. Each lesson includes easily accessible resources along with a series of discussions that will elicit comprehensive and productive conversations that address the tenets of Marxist Theory. This book is specifically relevant for the socioeconomic situation of the early part of the 21st century.

We live in a world where thousands make massive profits out of the labours of others, while those others exist as wage slaves, millions of whom die of starvation and poverty-related illness every year. The fundamental aim of Marxism is the overthrow of the anarchic, exploitative and eco-destructive system of world capitalism and its replacement by world socialism and equality. To build a socialist world is a task of gargantuan proportions, but one that Marxists believe is eminently achievable. This book addresses some of these challenges from within educational theory. The key theoretical issues addressed are: utopian socialism poststructuralism and postmodernism transmodernism globalisation, neo-liberalism and environmental destruction the new imperialism critical race theory. Marxism and Educational Theory compellingly and informatively propels the debate forward in the pursuit of that socialist future. In that quest, suggestions are made to connect theoretical issues with the more practical concerns of the school and the classroom. With a specially written Foreword by Peter McLaren, this timely book will be of interest to academics and students interested in educational theory, the sociology of education, sociology, politics, philosophy and critical theory.

In today’s vernacular, Marx ‘outed’ capitalism well over a century ago; however, his explanation has been both ignored and misinterpreted by not only his detractors but also by many socialists and even a considerable number of Marxists as well. Today we are experiencing the full impact and suffering the repercussions of capitalism’s inherent need to grow and become, more than ever before, a fully internationalized and integrated system of socioeconomic control and domination—the global system that many commentators have suddenly remembered Marx and Engels (1848) presciently forecasted in the Communist Manifesto.