Q&A #8: Question one

My first question regarding criticality was whether we could apply the method of critical pedagogy to institutions beyond that of education. The answer seems to be an obvious yes: there is no question that other social systems are unfortunately marked by internalized forms of oppression and methods of marginalizing particular social groups. While this is true I do believe that it would be dangerous to simply look at social institutions such as politics, educations, medicine and other cultural realms as only being sources of oppression. It cannot be denied that there are still obstacles to overcome to allow equal opportunities for all individuals regardless of social status, however there is also present a significant amount of progress within these realms as well. The handicapped, minorities, and women have all made strides to open public spaces and allow them to become full fledged contributing members to society in various ways. This is not to say that the task has been completed however to simply approach cultural analysis with the pessimistic outlook of anticipating inequality, you may miss the underlying advancements and methods by which people overcome adversity today.