Critical Approaches to the Study of Higher Education ─ A Practical Introduction

Critical theory has much to teach us about higher education. By linking critical models, methods, and research tools with an advocacy-driven vision of the central challenges facing postsecondary researchers and staff,Critical Approaches to the Study of Higher Education makes a significant—and long overdue—contribution to the development of the field.

The contributors argue that, far from being overly abstract, critical tools and methods are central to contemporary scholarship and can have practical policy implications when brought to the study of higher education. They argue that critical research design and critical theories help scholars see beyond the normative models and frameworks that have long limited our understanding of students, faculty, institutions, the organization and governance of higher education, and the policies that shape the postsecondary arena.

A rigorous and invaluable guide for researchers seeking innovative approaches to higher education and the morass of traditionally functionalist, rational, and neoliberal thinking that mars the field, this book is also essential for instructors who wish to incorporate the lessons of critical scholarship into their course development, curriculum, and pedagogy.

Ana M. Martinez-Aleman is a professor of education and the chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at Boston College. She is the author ofAccountability, Pragmatic Aims, and the American University and the coauthor ofOnline Social Networking on Campus: Understanding What Matters in Student Culture.Brian Pusser is an associate professor of education at the University of Virginia and an affiliate of the Center for Urban Education. He is the coeditor ofUniversities and the Public Sphere: Knowledge Creation and State Building in the Era of Globalization.Estela Mara Bensimon is a professor of higher education and the co-director of the Center for Urban Education. She is the coeditor ofConfronting Equity Issues on Campus: Implementing the Equity Scorecard in Theory and Practice and the coauthor ofPromotion and Tenure: Community and Socialization in Academe and Redesigning Collegiate Leadership: Teams and Teamwork in Higher Education.