Anarchism and Education: A Philosophical Perspective

by Judith Suissa

Anarchism and Education offers a philosophical account of the neglected tradition of anarchist thought on education. Although few anarchist thinkers wrote systematically on education, this analysis is based largely on a reconstruction of the educational thought of anarchist thinkers gleaned from their various ethical, philosophical and popular writings. Primarily drawing on the work of the nineteenth century anarchist theorists such as Bakunin, Kropotkin and Proudhon, the book also covers twentieth century anarchist thinkers such as Noam Chomsky, Paul Goodman, Daniel Guerin and Colin Ward.

Genres: Education, Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction, Anarchism

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Groundbreaking work! This little book ties together loose strands of anarchist political philosophy and contemporary progressive educational theory into a cohesive, concise examination of the history, thought, and practice of this radical social project. Equal parts an examination and exculpation of social anarchist theory in general and an investigation into what "anarchist education" looks like, I've never read anything like it. Highly recommended, even - and perhaps especially - for those skeptical of anarchism as a viable political philosophy.

[Eduardo Goye · Rating 2 out of 5]

The introduction, first chapters and the end were interesting. Sadly, the book is overly repetitive and most of the times it looks like a compendium of quotes from other authors. Having read most of those authors directly, this book gave little to no new food for thought.

The biggest issue is that it promises something that never delivers: a philosophical perspective on anarchism and education. It seems to me that the author understands "philosophy" as "thinking" or "overall mindset/perspective of ideas".

So: read the first two, the final chapter, and the conclusion. All the rest of the book is basically repeating the same ideas.

[Yuqi · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh boy this only took me 3 years to read. phew.
I think this book is a fantastic perspective and analysis on breaking down anarchist ideology and social anarchist philosophy of education. Judith Suisa was really good with including examples of existing or previously existing liberal and anarchist education systems so I learned a lot 🧠. I do need to say that this is a western and anglo centric lens, but that's more a result of it being an academic analysis of the intellectual tradition of anarchism - which is European. All in all, this was a very informative book and does a good job demystifying the central ideas of anarchism thought.

['Izzat Radzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a new topic, so no long review I guess.

This read just causes a few books to move up in the pile and increases to-read list exponentially.

[Daniel T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written for liberal academics, it spends much of its time justifying anarchist thought as a whole to a group of people (she refers to "them" and "people" very often) who likely have no interest in anarchist ideas to begin with. Does not leave a lot of space for new ideas or unique perspectives on furthering anarchism in education.

[Sugarpunksattack Mick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Judith Suissa's 'Anarchism and Education' is an interesting book and attempt to explore the philosophical framework of anarchist ideas around education and some of the anarchist experiments. From the beginning, it appears that Suissa is very sympathetic to the anarchist project although not offering a defense of anarchist education. Given the often hostile reaction of academia to anarchism in general, this is a refreshing view point. However, some of the arguments Suissa attributes to anarchism or anarchist thinkers often are infused more with the liberal understanding of those thinkers rather than the anarchist views themselves. For example, when talking about "neutralist liberal position" Suissa describes the liberal state as offering an education that is not offering a specific view or philosophically rich postion. Of course, this is not true. Perhaps as a philosophical thought experiment it is true, but in real life education is absolutely infused with values either that of the teacher and/or the state. As they say, you cannot be neutral on a moving train. Likewise anarchism is not an value free philosophical argument hanging in the air, but one connected to a rich history of resistance and community values around autonomy and freedom. Suissa's misunderstanding/misrepresentation of anarchism comes out as the book progresses. In chapter five, in attempts to show that anarchism is more than its rejections--an effort I appreciate--they claim Bakunin's rejection of the state is instrumental and not principled or empirical, i.e. historical and materialist. It might be true that Bakunin makes instrumental claims about the state, but his rejection of the state is also principled. The book is full of these sorts of claims that are interesting to a limited degree, but also misleading, which really hinders a greater actual understanding of anarchism. If you want to understand anarchist education then read anarchists.

Perhaps a nitpicky side note: Suissa pulls quotes from Maximoff's book on Bakunin. Anyone who has picked up that book knows that its essentially a book of quotes, which is fine for a propaganda piece, but not to understand what Bakunin is saying in the actual context of his work. I very much love Bakunin's work, but that book does not do it justice and is not useful for serious exploration of his views of education. Semi-related I don't think Suissa knows that Hobsbawm is very much anti-anarchist.

[Combimagnetron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable and a decent overview of what some of some anarchist viewpoints and some real-world examples of anarchist education.
I started to read, though, expecting this book to come to some conclusion on what an anarchist philosophy of education could look like. But in the end I feel like it primarily makes an argument for the value of the anarchist perspective besides a liberal and marxist perspective. Which is interesting, but not really what the book seemed to suggest as far as I'm concerned.

[KEITH · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good! Not very practical or immediately useful for teachers, but good for moulding a certain mindset and philosophy when it comes to moving forward with education from a social-anarchist perspective. Author did do an excellent job compiling the array anarchist ideas into something coherent and easy to understand. A significant achievement, but not what you're looking for if you are a teacher looking for something practical to bring to your classroom.

[Gabriel Sims-Fewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly a worthwhile read, though suffering from the ingrained liberalism of academia (every time you think you've found an anarchist academic they out themselves by voicing their liberal fetish for "non-violence") Definitely intended as an invitation to liberal academics to consider the more moderate end of the anarchist spectrum of philosophy.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has not read much on anarchism previously, I found this to be a great introduction to the movement(s) and its ideas. I appreciated the comparative analysis of anarchism with libertarianism and Marxism and the focus on education as a central institution in the social anarchist project. Great book for people who are interested in educational philosophy beyond the status quo.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly insightful overview.

[ػᶈᶏϾӗ]

About the best you can expect, from someone who seems so clearly a sympathetic, academic liberal educator.