Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed develops a theory of education fitted to the needs of the disenfranchised and marginalized members of capitalist societies. Combining educational and political philosophy, the book offers an analysis of oppression and a theory of liberation. Freire believes that traditional education serves to support the dominance of the powerful within society and thereby maintain the powerful’s social, political, and economic status quo. To overcome the oppression endemic to an exploitative society, education must be remade to inspire and enable the oppressed in their struggle for liberation. This new style of education focuses on consciousness-raising, dialogue, and collaboration between teacher and student in the effort to achieve greater humanization for all.

For Freire, education is political and functions either to preserve the current social order or to transform it. The theories of education and revolutionary action he offers in Pedagogy of the Oppressed are addressed to a radical audience committed to the struggle for liberation from oppression. Freire’s own commitment to this struggle developed through years of teaching literacy to Brazilian and Chilean peasants and laborers. His efforts at educational and political reform resulted in a brief period of imprisonment followed exile from his native Brazil for fifteen years.