Review

Author(s): Cameron McCarthy

Review by: Cameron McCarthy
Source: Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 15, No. 3 (May, 1986), pp. 411-412
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2070041
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 BOOK REVIEWS 411

change over time? In what ways, if any, do ative work. Donaldo Macedo's translationis
they clash with the "service ethic" described clear and readibleprose. Many of Freire's dif-
by Cookson and Persell? ficult concepts such as "conscientizaciio" are
Similarly, in what ways has the "integra- renderedmore accessible to a wide audience.
tion" of women into all-male prep schools The Politics of Education is an affirmation
changed their ritualized socialization pro- of Freire's prodigiously activist approach to
cesses? Has the additionof young women (as popular education and its capacity for secur-
well as female administrators)to these schools ing transformativechange. In many respects,
"softened" this process that socializes young the volume restates Freire'scontention,firmly
men to exercise power without remorse?Will enunciated in his first book, Educaciio como
these women enter the world of nonprofitor- Pratica de Liberdade (1967), that domination
ganizationsas volunteersor will they enter the is fundamentally secured in the cultural
power structureon an equal footingwith men? sphere. It is in the domain of culture that the
The majorcontributionof this book, however, marginalizedand the oppressed consent via
is that it adds another importantpiece to the their "silence" to existing social relations. But
emerging picture of a class-based power it is precisely in the realizationof critical con-
structure in America that sociologists have sciousness of the oppressed and the mobiliza-
developed over the last thirty years. tion of popularculture that the humanization
of both the dominated and the dominator is
possible.
The Politics of Education: Culture, Power, Paradoxically, The Politics of Education re-
and Liberation, by PAULOFREIRE(translated sonates most with contemporaryeducational
by Donaldo Macedo). South Hadley, MA: realities in the first world when Freire an-
Bergin & Garvey, 1985. 209 pp. $24.95 cloth. chors his analysis in the concrete experiences
$9.95 paper. of the oppressed in the Third World. For
example, adult education primers distributed
CAMERONMCCARTHY in official literacy projects present the Latin
University of Wisconsin-Madison American masses with depoliticized informa-
tion about the world in which they live. In a
A genuine encounter between Western similarmanner,traditionalschool texts in de-
theories of education and radical pedagogical veloped societies such as the United States
theories from the Third World is long over- present noncontradictory accounts of the
due. This is the ostensible project of Paulo workings of this society, which in turn pro-
Freire's latest volume, The Politics of Educa- mote official interpretationsof Americanlife.
tion. However, in his introductionto Freire's Freire's point is handily made-education
book Henry Girouxtips the scales in a slightly as a crucial site of productionof meaningsand
different direction and situates Freire's new systems of representationis also a central site
work within the contemporary "crisis" in of political struggle. In this regard, The Poli-
American educational research. Giroux sug- tics of Education demarcates Freire's work
gests that Freire's radical methodologies (his from the cultural and economic reproduction
"languageof critique"and "languageof possi- theories of the new sociology of education
bility") provide a compelling alternative on which subordinateeducationalstruggle to the
the one hand to conservativecritics who insist logic and fortunes of the capital-laborcon-
that the educational system should be rekin- tradiction.The novel implicationarisingfrom
dled in the service of patriotic goals, and on Freire's book is that struggles within the do-
the other to radical new sociology of educa- mains of significationand representationare
tion theorists who accord schooling limited not simply reflective of the arrangementsof
reproductive functions with respect to the society's macrostructurebut have determinate
economy and dominationrelations. and autonomous effects in their own right.
In his new volume, Freire never quite man- More than simply a "language of critique,"
ages either to (a) fulfill the ostensible goal of a Paulo Freire's approachto adult education as
sustained educational dialogue between the "culturalaction for freedom"is systematically
Third World and the first or (b) provide the programmatic.
solutionfor a perceived sterility in contempo- The Politics of Education thus brings to-
rary educational research (the "language of gether in a Gramscian sense imperatives of
despair"). The Politics of Education is, radical theory with a revolutionarypedagogi-
nevertheless, an importantand often provoc- cal practice. Freire also makes it clear that
Contemporary Sociology, May 1986, Volume 15, Number 3

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412 BOOK REVIEWS
cultural oppression and domination are not
automaticallyjettisoned with the abolition of
capitalistrelations. Indeed, he argues, by sub-
ordinatingeducation and culture to economic
goals, many postcapitalistsocieties reproduce
relations of domination that are functionally
similar to those in capitalist society ("Ac-
cordingly, socialist educators fall into the
same 'nutritionist' practices that character-
ize domesticatingeducation" [105]).
Freire's dialogical and critical approachto
educationas conscientizaciio is also rooted in
a firm belief that God is permanentlyon the
side of the oppressed. Freire argues that,
much like traditionalschooling, the educative
role of the traditionalchurch has been one of
domesticationand mystification. In its stead,
he suggests, liberationtheology offers a new
church of "prophecy," a vision of social
change, and a political programfor struggle.
In the last two chapters, Freireoffers a can-
did dialogue with his audience. Using an
interview format, he seeks to amplify and
clarify some of the majorconcepts and issues
in his work. In conversationallanguagespiced
with biographicaldetails, Freire attempts to
demonstrate his dialogical method. Though
refreshingand often engaging,these two con-
versationalchapters read like an afterthought
and tend to dissipate the cogency and coher-
ence established in the previous chapters of
the text.
Despite Freire's compelling thesis of the
determinaterole of education and culture in
social change, The Politics of Education is
fraught with analytical and theoretical ten-
sions and contradictions. There is, for in-
stance, a persistent tension between Freire's
idealistic formulationsand the materialistas-
sertions in his work. The Politics of Education
in fact offers no sustainedanalysis of the ma-
terial relations or the structuralreality of the
social formations that dominate oppressed
peasants in Latin America or elsewhere.
There is no systematicaccountof structuralor
class contradictionsthat inform the "culture
of silence."
Beyond the dichotomy of "oppressor"and
"oppressed," the social composition of the
political forces at work in these dominated
societies is not clear. Without an account of
the relative material, organizational, and
mobilizationalcapacities of the social groups
involved, the viability of Freire's educational
projectof social transformationis throwninto
doubt. Also, he offers no critical reflectionon
the contradictorysocial location of the radical
Contemporary Sociology, May 1986, Volume 15, Number 3
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adult educator himself/herself. Furthermore,
the book fails to explore the impact of racial
and gender stratifications as they work
throughthe ideological and materialorganiza-
tion of educationin dependentand developed
countries.
On the whole, though, as an assertionof the
significance of education and culture in the
task of human emancipation,The Politics of
Education offers a powerfulinflection on cur-
rent modes of radical educational research
that subordinateeducation to the fortunes of
the economy. By pointing us in the direction
of the transformativecapacity of the cultureof
the oppressed, Freire may be asking us to
rethink the very foundation of the corpus of
curriculumtheoryas we have come to know it.
Family
Grandparenthood, edited by VERN L.
BENGTSONand JOANF. ROBERTSON.Beverly
Hills: Sage, 1985. 240 pp. NPL paper.
BETH B. HESS
County College of Morris
Several years ago, driven to extreme choler
by yet anotherpop-soc referenceto the disap-
pearance of grandparenting(as a symptom of
the death of the closeknit family), I computed
a "grandparentratio," hoping to prove con-
clusively that more children today will have
more living grandparentsfor a greaternumber
of years than ever before. Indeed, given cur-
rent remarriagerates, and assumingthat some
parentsof the noncustodialparentwill remain
in contact with their grandchildren,the ratio
could grow exponentially.
Only recently, however, has systematic ac-
ademic attention been given to the topic of
grandparenthood. The book under review
neatly summarizesthe state of the art in re-
search and thinking(theorizingwould be too
strong a word) at this moment. The various
chapters are adapted from original presenta-
tions at a National Conference on Grand-
parentingand Family Connections,held at the
WingspreadCenter in 1983, under the aus-
pices of the National Institute for the Family
and the William Petschek National Jewish
Family Center of the AmericanJewish Com-
mittee. Among the many disciplines repre-
sented are sociology, human development,
psychiatry, religion, social work, and medical
anthropology.