In this paper I respond to Ajay Sharma's "Portrait of a Science Teacher as a Bricoleur: A case study from India," by speaking to two aspects of the bricoleur: the subject and the discursive in relation to pedagogic perspective. I highlight that our subjectivities are negotiated based on the desires of the similar and competing discourses…

Organizational learning or epistemology has emerged in order to manage the creation of knowledge and innovation within contemporary capitalism. Its insights are being applied also to the public sector. Much of the research in organizational learning has drawn upon the discipline of psychology, particularly constructivist theory. Two approaches in…

In light of the new perspectives emerging from critical theory in the social sciences, agricultural communication must confront and rekindle its relationship with contemporary social theory or reconsider its description as a social science. (JOW)

Drawing from a multi-year ethnography of a Latino/a immigrant Pentecostal church and from high school observations and interviews of three focal students, this article compares the language and literacy experiences of an immigrant Mexican Pentecostal adolescent in church and school contexts. I document how the youth's Sunday school class fostered…

Critical social theory is used to analyze the American Medical Association's proposal to deal with the nursing shortage by creating registered care technologists. The discussion highlights strategies nurses can use in future efforts to support health care reform. (JOW)

The London bombings of 7th July, 2007 (7/7) were a pivotal moment in British society, not only because of the loss of life and injury, but because it was the first time Britain had been attacked by non-white British citizens. This point was underscored by Chancellor Gordon Brown when he stressed that "the uncomfortable facts" have to be…

Syllabus and policy documents in many states and countries around the world, and more specifically in Queensland are underpinned by an emancipatory agenda, in particular the principles of social justice. Educators are called upon to achieve this through a pedagogy which is immersed in the language of critical theory. Two elements that underpin…

Examines issues facing occupations undergoing professionalization. Considers theoretical bases for continuing professional education, suggesting a critical social theory to inform debates about who should gain access to what forms of professional knowledge. (Contains 34 references.) (SK)

This article revisions the relationship between person and social environment through the lens of critical theory. Emphasizing distinctively human characteristics, arguments define human actors as coconstructors of their social environments. Although human behavior is shaped by society and its structures, those very structures are recursively…

The use of hybridity today suggests a less coherent, unified and directed process than that found in the Enlightenment science's cultural imperialism, but regardless of this neither concept exists outside power and inequality. Hence, hybridity raises the question of the terms of the mixture and the conditions of mixing. Cultural hybridity produced…

"Change Matters," written by leading scholars committed to social justice in English education, provides researchers, university instructors, and preservice and inservice teachers with a framework that pivots social justice toward policy. The chapters in this volume detail rationales about generating social justice theory in what Freire calls "the…

This study documents the counterstories of four academically (and mathematically) successful African American male students. Using participative inquiry, the participants were asked to read, reflect on, and respond to historical and current research literature regarding the schooling experiences of African American students. Their responses were…

Describes the nature and distinctiveness of critical theory and discusses it according to the viewpoints of Raymond Geuss and Jurgen Habermas. The logical status of a Habermasian critical theory is examined, defended from some traditional criticisms, and contrasted with both historical versions of critical theory and purely scientific theories.…

This article explores how far it is possible to develop a pedagogy of critical hope in the current neo-liberal, marketized climate of higher education. It first considers relevant insights from the works of Gramsci, Freire and the literature on academic literacies and then shows how I have begun to apply these insights through teaching social…

Scholars have provided numerous critical analyses of the structural causes of poverty. Unfortunately, many teachers are still led to believe, via best selling books and mainstream discourse, that behaviors, neighborhoods, and families determine educational outcomes. This "culture of poverty" theory must be disproved; educators need to be…