ABSTRACT
In this article, the authors provide a strong critique of liberal education in its connection to a capitalist and western elitist worldview. They argue that a liberal view that supports capitalism as a neutral rather than political condition refuses to acknowledge how education in its relationship to capitalist society is bound to reproduce social and economic inequalities. While such a view is often simplistically criticised as Marxist and extremist, the article emphasises that views of education that call for changes in socioeconomic relations are not simply reactionary and ideological, but express a logical underpinning for realising a truly liberal form of education in the future. In the course of their argument they analyse and compare insights related to schooling and knowledge production relations in society from the theories of ‘new sociology’ of education and Althusserian Marxist views. The analysis finds that new sociological views which emphasise equalising school relations apart from societal ones is overly optimistic in some important ways. On the other hand, the authors defend Marxist views, concluding that an equitable educational system must entail social transformation beyond the schools. As the article engages in extensive dialogue with contemporary authors and thinkers, it does an excellent job of revealing significant points of contestation related to the political economy of education at the time it was written.
