Culture, Power and Education: Representation, Interpretation, Contestation

Employing Gramscian conceptions of hegemony, this book demonstrates the inextricable links between politics, education, culture and power.

Based upon in-depth analyses of the theories of Antonio Gramsci, Lorenzo Milani, Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux, and bell hooks among others, this book shows how many hegemonic social relationships are fundamentally educational relationships. In doing so, Mayo demonstrates how popular culture, education, museums, and fine art are both sites of hegemony and contestation.

This thought-provoking work will be of interest to students and scholars with an interest in sociology of art and culture, sociology of education, critical pedagogy, cultural studies, museum studies and social theory.

Peter Mayo is Professor of Sociology of Education and Adult Education and UNESCO Chair in Global Adult Education at the University of Malta, Malta. His research focuses on the sociology of education, adult education, comparative education, social theory, critical theory, and cultural studies. He is the author of Hegemony and Education under Neoliberalism: Insights from Gramsci (Routledge, 2015) and co-author of Learning and Social Difference: Challenges for Public Education and Critical Pedagogy (Routledge, 2007). He is also the editor of Education in Small States: Global Imperatives, Regional Initiatives and Local Dilemmas (Routledge, 2009) and co-editor of International Critical Pedagogy Reader (Routledge, 2015).