WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ACT CRITICALLY?

1. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ACT CRITICALLY? Stephen Brookfield Distinguished University Professor University of St. Thomas Minneapolis-St. Paul

2. CRITICAL THINKING • A premature ultimate – its invocation stops further analysis & questioning • In most H.E. mission statements • Broad agreement on process – identifying & checking assumptions • Implementation changes depending on intellectual tradition most influential

3. Critical Traditions …. • ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY – logical fallacies, argument analysis – inductive, deductive, analogical, inferential • NATURAL SCIENCE – hypothetical-deductive method, principle of falsifiability • CRITICAL THEORY – uncovering power dynamics & ideological manipulation • PRAGMATISM – experimental pursuit of beautiful consequences (democracy)

4. Core Assumptions of Critical Theory • Society organized to make permanent inequity appear normal, a natural state of affairs • Perception of normality created & disseminated via dominant ideology • Point of theory is to illuminate as a prompt to action

5. What Does it Mean to Be Critical?Five Tasks Pursued Experimentally • Understand how power operates – its dynamics, its ethical use & abuse in relationships, work & community • Detect ideological manipulation • Recognize & challenge hegemony • Be alert to how repressive tolerance neutralizes challenges to the system • Practice democracy

6. Understanding Power • Researching use of teacher power • Understanding student-student dynamics • CRITICAL INCIDENT QUESTIONNAIRE • Most engaged moment • Most distanced moment • Most helpful action • Most puzzling action • What surprised you most

7. IDEOLOGICAL MANIPULATION • How ideology is embedded in micro-actions & everyday decisions … • Depression – patriarchy • Micro-aggressions: racial & gender • Political participation – “they’re all the same”, “everything’s fixed”, “mustn’t grumble”

8. IDEOLOGICAL MANIPULATION • CAPITALISM • Competition as natural survival of fittest • Efficiency via division of labor • Exchange dynamic • Privatization – taking care of your own

9. HEGEMONY • Enthusiastic embrace of actions & beliefs that harm us & serve the interests of others …. VOCATION • “Killing me softly”

10. Repressive Tolerance (Marcuse) • Include enough challenge to the system to neutralize it – critical theory texts • Diversifying curriculum as smorgasbord – mainstream always defines the norm • Ideology of democratic tolerance – flattening of discussion when all experiences & viewpoints are considered equally valid

11. PRACTICING DEMOCRACY • Decisions after inclusive conversation • Decision making processes represent interests of those most affected • Resources stewarded & used for benefit of widest number of people, ‘common good’ • Negotiation of shared interest – collective interest privileged over private interest

12. RESOURCES • www.stephenbrookfield.com • www.the99ersband.com • The Power of Critical Theory (2004) • Radicalizing Learning (2010) with John Holst • Teaching for Critical Thinking (2012)