WHAT DOES IT MEAN
TO ACT CRITICALLY?
Stephen Brookfield
Distinguished University Professor
University of St. Thomas
Minneapolis-St. Paul
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
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)
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
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
Understanding Power
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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
IDEOLOGICAL MANIPULATION
• How ideology is embedded in microactions & everyday decisions …
• Depression – patriarchy
• Micro-aggressions: racial & gender
• Political participation – “they’re all the
same”, “everything’s fixed”, “mustn’t
grumble”
IDEOLOGICAL MANIPULATION
• CAPITALISM
• Competition as natural survival of
fittest
• Efficiency via division of labor
• Exchange dynamic
• Privatization – taking care of your
own
HEGEMONY
• Enthusiastic embrace of actions & beliefs that
harm us & serve the interests of others ….
VOCATION
• “Killing me softly”
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
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
RESOURCES
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www.stephenbrookfield.com
www.the99ersband.com
The Power of Critical Theory (2004)
Radicalizing Learning (2010) with
John Holst
• Teaching for Critical Thinking (2012)