Educationalization and Its Complexities

Educationalization and Its Complexities is a wonderful example of the pairing of academic rigour and artistic construction. The book makes a well-grounded and sophisticated contribution to not only the potential interpretative power of the concept of educationalization, but also to the consideration of its potential socio-political limitations.

- Gonzalo Jover, Dean, Faculty of Education, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Educationalization is often used as a critical concept, denoting the tendencies of modern societies to assign responsibilities to public schools that are not being adequately addressed by other institutions. However, the same concept can be read in a more positive way, denoting the growing recognition that many vexed social problems have an unavoidably educational dimension. This impressive collection of authors largely takes the latter view and the result is a conversation about the meaning and purpose of education from both historical and contemporary perspectives, ranging from Capuchin missionaries in Chile in the nineteenth century to the impact of modern digital technologies.

- Nicholas C. Burbules, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

This book is an outstanding exposition on the ways in which responsibility for social problems that originate in other social spheres are assigned to formal schooling. It should be read with profit by those who are actors on today's political and educational stage and by those who, as historians of education, wish to gain insights on how their work may contribute to contemporary debates.

- Tom O'Donoghue, Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia