ABSTRACT
In this 1991 article by Richard Brosio, aims to explore the continuing reliance of Marx’s insights despite their limitations in elucidating contemporary experiences in western societies, also examining the ideas of Antonio Gramsci, Martin Carnoy, Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, Michael Katz, and Michael Apple. Brosio begins his account by exploring the recent events in favour of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe at the time. He notes that Americans regard these events with too much self-congratulation, in light of ongoing human rights issues in western countries, particularly critiquing Francis Fukuyama’s ‘end of history’ view. In this context, Brosio is emphatic that enabling a free market economy is not sufficient to meet the global challenges faced, while socialism may continue to enable participatory democracy, rather than capitalism. In relation to education, Brosio examines the work of Katz in the United States, noting how education has always been segregated by class, while an emerging rightist agenda can be anticipated to provide for less equal opportunities for young people there in the future. This article thus provides an excellent pulse point to understand the ideas and views of the 1990s, as neoliberalism was emerging as a threatening economic ideology in the face of ideals of authentic democracy and an equitable global community.
