Dr. Glenn Rikowski
MARXISM AND EDUCATION:
FRAGILITY, CRISIS,
CRITIQUE, NEGATIVITY, AND SOCIAL FORM(S)
This is a paper I prepared for the International Conference on Critical
Education VIII, University of East London, Stratford Campus, 25 – 28 July 2018.
The Abstract is below, and the paper itself can be viewed at Academia and at
ResearchGate.
Glenn Rikowski
ABSTRACT
Why
Marxism? Why Marxist educational theory? Through addressing these questions,
this paper proclaims the importance of Marxism as a theory that intellectually
disrupts and ruptures capitalist society and its educational forms. With
reference to the work of John Holloway, it is argued that the significance of
Marxism resides in its capacity to pinpoint fragilities and weaknesses in the
constitution of capital. Grasping these fragilities in the rule of capital in
contemporary social life sharpens the critical edge of any politics aimed at
social transformation. Marxist educational theory plays an important role in
this enterprise. These points are illustrated through consideration of the
following ideas and phenomena: fragility, crisis, critique, negativity and
social form(s). It is argued that fragility must be the starting point as
Marxism is primarily a theory of capitalist weaknesses, and not the opposite: a
theory of capitalist domination. Following Holloway, Marxism is a theory
against society, rather than just another mainstream theory of society. Against
Holloway, it is argued that the forms that fragilities for labour take also
need to be understood. Paradoxically, our strength vis-à-vis capital is also
the place for apprehending the fragilities and dependencies of labour. This
vicious duality also exists in terms of crises in capitalism, and this flows
into the phenomena of critique and negativity too. Finally, on the basis of
this theorisation, the doors of capitalist hell are opened through a
consideration of social forms in general and commodity forms in particular and
their relations to educational processes and institutions. It is at this point
that Marxist educational theory enters the stage, although in a transfigured
form. In 1997, I wrote an article for the British Journal of
Sociology of Education called ‘Scorched Earth: Prelude to
Rebuilding Marxist Educational Theory’. Twenty-one years later, this paper can
be viewed as my definitive first element in a programme of rebuilding Marxist
educational theory.
Available from:
The full paper can
be downloaded from Academia, at: https://www.academia.edu/37095004/Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique_Negativity_and_Social_Form_s_
The full paper can
be downloaded from ResearchGate, at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326545788_Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique_Negativity_and_Social_Forms
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Posted here by Glenn Rikowski
Glenn Rikowski at ResearchGate:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski
Glenn Rikowski at Academia:
http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski
