ABSTRACT
Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning is critiqued for emphasizing individual learning at the expense of a social dimension and also for being overly abstract and rational in its view of critical reflection. Mezirow’s dependence on Habermas is seen as the cause of this. This chapter seeks a solution to these critiques by building on the work of Axel Honneth, the successor of Habermas at the Frankfurt School. He developed a more nuanced theory of recognition and of emancipation that reframe the work of Habermas and allow us to reframe transformation theory as based on mutuality, intersubjectivity, and the struggle for recognition and that see the personal and political as connected.
