Contributions to a Marxist Critical Pedagogy: Revisiting Marx's Humanism

• Published in: Journal for critical education policy studies Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 1 - 44
• Main Author: Malott, Curry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute for Education Policy Studies 01.08.2014
• Subjects: Critical Theory; Educational Attitudes; Empowerment; History; Humanism; Political Attitudes; Social Systems; Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 1740-2743

In this essay Malott makes a case for a Marxist-informed critical pedagogy situating Marx's approach to Hegelian dialectics at the center. After reviewing Marx's critique of Hegel in his 1844 manuscripts, Malott outlines Marx's shifting conception of the falling rate of profit reflecting his developing understanding of what the negation of the negation means under capitalism. Finally, Malott argues throughout the essay that critical pedagogy can offer a powerful tool to help students and teachers situate their own experiences in this larger social, historical context fostering self-empowerment and collective critical agency. In other words, Malott argues that in order to negate ourselves as alienated labor, we need to be able to see ourselves as such, and then see ourselves as the negation of ourselves as such. Throughout the essay Malott stresses the point that this is the historical process of becoming, which, for Freire, is a process that should be conceived and rigorously lived, as a never-ending process, individually, and collectively. The nature of existence here is conceptualized as perpetual movement. The question is, in what direction shall this movement proceed? Bringing these questions to the surface and challenging students and teachers to think deeply and seriously about what it means to answer them is the task of critical pedagogy.