Educating through Alienation to Democracy: Engaging Critical Theory in Pedagogical Philosophy

The alienation generated in modern capitalist societies has a corrosive effect on social cohesion and democratic deliberation. This thesis stresses the importance of citizenship education in combating alienation in order to achieve a democratic and just society. Insights provided by Critical Theory suggest that education that promotes social democratic citizenship may overcome social alienation if it is practiced as Bildung in a comprehensive sense and administered together with the right dose of political economic alienation. To develop this argument, the thesis considers both classical and contemporary conceptions of alienation in detail and includes in-depth discussions of Hegel, Marx, Marcuse, and Habermas.