Democracy, Capitalism, and Education: Reconsidering Dewey’s Failure to Address Economic Life

Abstract

Our aim here is to take Bowles and Gintis's version of the naivete thesis seriously. We explore their critique and consider Dewey's work in light of their charges. We find that, while Bowles and Gintis do an admirable job of describing problems endemic to schooling in a largely capitalist society, their work is unable to suggest reasonable paths toward change (something they acknowledge in their recent work). Dewey's ideas are, we find, sensitive to the problems of schooling and capitalism. Not only does Dewey recognize problems which Bowles and Gintis would diagnose almost 40 years later, but Dewey's idea of education through (and not for) vocation is designed to ameliorate some of the problems of capitalism. Perhaps most importantly for contemporary purposes, this exploration sheds light on problems with thinking of democracy and capitalism as a rigid binary and it also points to some ways in which schooling might help the two to interrelate in our society. DEWEY'S INSENSITIVITY TO CAPITALISM? Bowles and Gintis's critique of Dewey boils down to the claim that Dewey's views on education are predicated on the belief that we live in a democracy. Bowles