Giroux Boycott Theory And Its Criticism

Based on critical theory, using the transformable theories about hidden curriculum as its basic discourse, by criticizing reproduction theories and former resistance theories, combined with reconstruction of the theories about ideology and culture, the Resistance Theory of Henry A. Giroux is built. In order to construct a more democratic society, The Resistance Theory explores the functions and mechanism of schooling-and plans the reforms of schooling in a new way. The Resistance Theory not only enriches and deepens the contemporary theories about Sociology of Education and Curriculum and Instruction, but also influences the development of educational practices significantly.There are seven sections in this thesis. The first section contains two parts. One introduces Giroux' life, the woks, and the evaluation about Giroux' works. The other analyzes the definition of resistance, and the Resistance Theory. The second section explores Critical Theory, the theoretical foundation of the Resistance Theory. At first, we introduce the history and background of the Frankfurt School. Then we analyze the point of view about rationality, theory, culture, and depth psychology by the Frankfurt School and Giroux' conceptions about them. The third section is focus on the new theories about hidden curriculum, the basic discourse of Resistance Theory. First of all, we respectively discourse the traditional, liberal, and radical perspectives on hidden curriculum and Giroux' analyses on them. Then we discuss how to redefine the hidden curriculum in theoretical model and practical implication so that it can become the basic discourse of the Resistance Theory. In the fourth section, we point out how the Resistance Theory is formed by criticizing the former theories about resistance and the theories about reproduction including the theories of social reproduction by L. Althusser, and Bowles & Gintis, the theories of cultural reproduction by P. Bourdieu, and B. Bernstein. At the core of the fifth section are the new theories about ideology and culture which are the main theory of the Resistance Theory. We not only try to characterize the culturalist traditions and the structuralist traditions, conclude Giroux' evaluation on them, but also point out how to reconstruct the conception of ideology and culture. In the sixth section, we discuss how to use the Resistance Theory to analyze particular educational issues, especially the issues about citizenship education. We respectively debate technical rationality, hermeneutic rationality, emancipatory rationality and the model of citizenship education directedby them. Then we illuminate how to transform the model about citizenship education. The seventhsection is about the evaluation of the Resistance Theory.