In his path-breaking analysis of the formation of an ideological >white< self-consciousness among American workers in the nineteenth century, David Roediger relies on a theoretical synthesis of historical materialism and psychoanalysis. This paper explores the parallels in methodology and content between Roediger’s work and the critical theory of Max Horkheimer, Erich Fromm, and Herbert Marcuse, which was also based on a synthesis of Marx and Freud. The paper seeks to place Roediger’s arguments in a broader theoretical context and to highlight the ongoing relevance of early Frankfurt School critical theory to contemporary discussions in critical race theory.
Resulting from the prevalence of hedonistic egoism within the youth culture and the media targeted to this demographic, this essay offers a brief discussion of hedonistic egoism absent in much of contemporary ethics. Analyzing Fred Feldman’s pure hedonism as discussed in >Pleasure and the Good Life: Concerning the Nature, Varieties, and Plausibility of Hedonism<, hedonistic egoism is defined as an extension of Feldmanian pure hedonism. Discussing the use of hedonistic egoism in modern society by certain societal groups, especially adolescents and young adults, as a means to seek freedom from certain societal authorities such as the law, or at least portions of it, the differences between negative and positive freedom are explored using Erich Fromm’s >Escape from Freedom<. It is then argued that when hedonistic egoism is used by individuals to seek freedom, whether it be negative or positive, certain paradoxes arise. Firstly, negative freedom, if existent, will exist merely psychology while, secondly, so far that pleasure and pain act as new authorities and egoism is present, positive freedom becomes an impossibility.
The research questions of the article are: What takes place in the professional cooperative work of including children with special needs in kindergartens and in counteracting exclusive process? How are views on children and ethics expressed through practice and in reflections on practice among the staff in kindergarten? What constitutes >pedagogical presence<, >attentive love< and children's participation in developing pedagogical practice? A common understanding of these concepts are highlighted by Fromm's understanding of >being-mode< and >having-mode< as different modes of orientation toward ourselves and the world. The article draws on critical social theory on preschool education and is based on empiric findings from ethnographic studies in two kindergartens. While planning and regulating the practice according to a biased view on >what children need< earlier were main topic in the kindergartens studied, now concentration on listening to and >reading< the children is focused, and thus expansion of the interests and questions the children themselves bring in is facilitated. The new practice can be seen as a resistance movement against the growth of an instrumental and technical approach to preschool education the last years.