Is a philosophy of education that analyzes institutions, organizations, and instruction regarding power relationships. According to proponents of critical theory, schools are controlled by the powerful, wealthy upper class that marginalizes the lower classes by using their control to maintain or reproduce their favored position on an issue. The supporters of critical theory strive to empower subordinate classes by analyzing social and educational circumstances in schools and society. They draw attention to exploitative power relationships such as determination or marginalization to foster change.

Critical theory began to gain momentum in the 1960s at the time of Martin Luther King, Jr. At this time minority groups were desperately pursuing equal opportunity and representation. Two followers of Marxism, Paulo Freire, and Henry Giroux, were two of the leading contributors to critical theory, and as a result, it’s heavily influenced by Marxist theory.

Freire, in Pedagogy of the Oppressed in 1968, called for education that raised people’s awareness about the reality of their economic and social condition and inspired them to take the steps needed for their empowerment. Giroux, seeing education as a leading proponent of politics, analyzed the educational institutions and resisted dominant ideology to create a more equalitarian democratic society and education.