The Frankfurt School

Critical pedagogy, particularly the version popularized by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, has its roots in the theories of the "Frankfurt School," a term used to describe the neo-Marxian social theory characteristic of the Institut fur Sozialforschung (Institute for Social Research), which was founded on February 3, 1923 at the University of Frankfurt. The Institute fled Germany in 1933 as Hitler rose to power, finding temporary homes in Geneva, London, and Paris before settling at Columbia University in New York in 1936. In 1950, the institute returned to Frankfurt. A second generation emerged in the 1960s, with Jergen Habermas as its leading figure.

"Critical theory" became the term used to describe the dialectical social criticism that was characteristic of the diverse scholars who made up the Frankfurt School. One important tenet of critical theory that is evident in Freirean critical pedagogy is the notion that ideology critique can eliminate "false consciousness" and allow individuals and groups to critique and resist oppressive regimes of power. This idea is central to Freire's notion of "conscientization," or the coming to critical consciousness. According to Herbert Marcuse, a major figure in the Frankfurt school, "No qualitative social change, no socialism, is possible without the emergence of a new rationality and sensibility in the individuals themselves: no radical social change without a radical change of the individual agents of change" (Counterrevolution and Revolt). Another similarity between critical theory and critical pedagogy is the emphasis placed on critique of "value free claims," which are seen as generally serving to support and maintain the status quo. Only by critiquing "common sense" notions that pass themselves off as value free can individuals discern whose interests they serve and who might benefit if such notions and the social structures they support were disrupted and transformed. In Counterrevolution and Revolt Marcuse writes: "Making the university 'relevant' for today and tomorrow means, instead, presenting the facts and forces that made civilization what it is today and what it could be tomorrow--and that is political education. For history indeed repeats itself; it is this repetition of domination and submission that must be halted, and halting it presupposes knowledge of its genesis and of the ways in which it is reproduced: critical thinking." For both critical theorists and critical educators then, the development of this critical lens is the goal of education, but it also is a tool that must be brought to bear on educational systems themselves and the ways that they perpetuate unequal divisions of power and social injustices.

Frankfurt School Links

  • Illuminations: The Critical Theory Website
    "A WWW research resource for those interested in the Critical Theory project. Firmly based in Frankfurt School thought, this site maintains a collection of articles, excerpts, and chapters from many contemporary writers of and about Critical Theory. Additional submissions from graduate students and others are also available, as are links to other websites and related sources."
    Created by Douglas Brown, University of Texas at Austin, and Douglas Kellner, University of Texas at Arlington.
    <http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/>