Working Theory

Goleman investigates the relationship between critical theory and composition pedagogy in extensive and methodical ways. The philosophical insights of Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, and Mikhail Bakhtin are transformed into methodologies for critical work in composition. The book rests on the premise that critical approaches to the relationship between language and ideology should not be the preserve of teachers alone, but should be seen as ways of writing and analyzing language that students can master. Critical theory provides students with an understanding of language and self, truth and knowledge that allows for intellectual insight and fluency among the discourses of their multileveled, often complex and conflict-ridden lives.