Gramsci, Freire and Adult Education: Possibilities for Transformative Action

This book focuses on two of the most cited figures in the debate on radical education, Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) and Paulo Freire (1921-1997). Both regarded forms of adult education as having an important role to play in the struggle for liberation from oppression. Peter Mayo examines the extent to which their combined insights can provide the foundation for a theory of transformative adult education. He considers their respective contributions to the development of such a theory, analyzes their ideas comparatively and identifies some of the limitations in their work for incorporation into a theory. The book concludes with a major synthesis of their ideas in the context of other adult educators’ more recent contributions in order to develop a theory of transformative adult education.