Tag Archives: critical theory

The dark side of critical thinking and the need to restore learning relationships

Niclas Rönnström
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Niclas Rönnström Department of Education, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden   Abstract In the 20th century, critical thinking emerged as an important ideal in and aim of education. Hardly anyone opposes critical thinking, its weight is re-enforced in debates on education and its positive value is largely taken for granted because of the manifold promises it […]

Full Citation Information:
Rönnström, N. (2024). The dark side of critical thinking and the need to restore learning relationships. ACCESS: Contemporary Issues in Education, 44(2), 71-83. https://doi.org/10.46786/ac24.8788

Article Feature Image Acknowledgement: Photo by Terry Vlisidis on Unsplash

Critical Theory in a Decolonial Age


Jan McArthur, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, joins the Collective Intellectualities crew in this episode to discuss her recent article, ‘Critical Theory in a Decolonial Age,’ in Educational Philosophy and Theory, which is also available on PESA Agora. Informed by Critical Theory, and particularly Adorno, Jan’s work examines education, […]

Jan McArthur

Jan McArthur is Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University, UK. Her research spans two themes: education and social justice, and the nature of higher education. She explores different interpretations of critical pedagogy, in particular ways that conceptualisations of knowledge impact upon social justice. Particular interests are critical theory and Theodor Adorno's work. Her 2018 book Assessment for Social Justice:Perspectives and Practices within Higher Education draws on the critical theory of Axel Honneth. Jan is Australian who engaged with Indigenous issues since school years. She lives in Scotland but works in England.

Critical theory in a decolonial age

Published online: 08 Jun 2021
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Abstract This article considers the critical theory of the Frankfurt School in the context of decolonisation and asks whether it can have continuing relevance given its foundations in white, western traditions which bear the hallmarks of colonialism. Despite critical theory, particularly in its early radical figurations, situating itself as an alternative to traditional western philosophy, […]

Full Citation Information:
McArthur, J. (2021). Critical theory in a decolonial age, Educational Philosophy and Theory. DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2021.1934670

Jan McArthur

Jan McArthur is Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University, UK. Her research spans two themes: education and social justice, and the nature of higher education. She explores different interpretations of critical pedagogy, in particular ways that conceptualisations of knowledge impact upon social justice. Particular interests are critical theory and Theodor Adorno's work. Her 2018 book Assessment for Social Justice:Perspectives and Practices within Higher Education draws on the critical theory of Axel Honneth. Jan is Australian who engaged with Indigenous issues since school years. She lives in Scotland but works in England.

Article Feature Image Acknowledgement: Photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash