Education between reproduction and release: dialogue between Pierre Bourdieu and Paulo Freire

Abstract

In this article, we chose two authors considered fundamental to the Brazilian educational context. Pierre Bourdieu, with his reproductive theory, which states that school systems are mechanisms for maintaining and legitimizing social and cultural inequalities. And, Paulo Freire, who problematizes the antagonism between oppressors and oppressed, which unfolds in processes of dehumanization, with deleterious effects on students, proposing, therefore, a pedagogy of liberation. Thus, our objective was to present each of these educational approaches, Bourdeiusian and Freirean, with the aim of, through their debate and complementary understanding, contributing to broader educational thinking. In this sense, we carry out a dialogue – or even, we propose complementarity – between the thinkers chosen here, which revealed an absolutely opportune proposal, the proposition of an education uncompromised with traditional and conservative pedagogical impositions, therefore, non-critical, aiming that students students can effectively play their role with critical awareness, promoting the desirable and necessary social transformation.