Indecision, Social Justice, and Social Change: A Dialogue on Marxism, Postmodernism, and Education

Abstract

This chapter comprises a lightly edited record of a dialogue between Elizabeth A tkinson a nd M ike C ole. I t was r ecorded during t he M ERD seminar (October, 2002) chaired by Glenn Rikowski (GR), in which they explored different approaches to critical thinking, analysis, and practices. As in previous exchanges between them, they express challenging alternatives as well as some significant elements of complementarity around the issues and grounds on which Marxism and postmodernism may engage in relation to education, political action, and social justice. The format had Elizabeth and Mike in dialogue as well as addressing questions from the floor. Mike led off with an opening statement followed by Elizabeth’s responses and discussion.