David I. Backer, Althusser and Education: Reassessing Critical Education – Bloomsbury, July 2022 (print, and open access)

Louis Althusser was one of the foremost Marxist philosophers of the 20th century. His thinking laid the groundwork for critical educational theory, yet it is often misunderstood in critical pedagogy and sociology of education. In this open access book, David Backer reexamines Althusser’s philosophy of education, presents its flawed reception in critical educational research, and draws out what the philosophy has to offer us today. Correcting the record about Althusser’s thinking in the traditional narrative of critical educational research becomes an opportunity to revisit fundamental questions for thinking about school in its social context. For students and researchers of education, critical theory, sociology of education, and critical pedagogy, this book will be a resource for rethinking the social foundations of education, both as a field and as a set of theoretical frameworks for educational research.