Despite the efforts made by the media literacy movement in the U.S. to institute media education as a means of addressing social issues, there still exists the potential for a more politically empowering media literacy education. While media literacy scholars and practitioners' avoidance of adopting particular political or social agendas is understandable, others have noted that while an apolitical media literacy curriculum might be easier to pitch to schools and parents, this approach is ultimately inadequate at addressing problems that plague modern society (Lewis and Jhally 1998; Kellner and Share 2005, 2007). This paper argues that by reexamining the foundational philosophies of Plato and John Dewey, tracing the development of their ideas in contemporary social theory and media scholarship, and identifying their application in media literacy scholarship, media literacy scholars and practitioners may be able to create a media literacy education that more effectively confronts injustice and promotes social change. The author calls this process the "re-politicization of media literacy education" because he argues that at the heart of the philosophies of Plato and Dewey, from which current approaches to media education commonly draw, is a commitment to the creation of a just society through critical civic engagement. Download: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ985679.pdf

Despite the efforts made by the media literacy movement in the U.S. to institute media education as a means of addressing social issues, there still exists the potential for a more politically empowering media literacy education. While media literacy scholars and practitioners' avoidance of adopting particular political or social agendas is understandable, others have noted that while an apolitical media literacy curriculum might be easier to pitch to schools and parents, this approach is ultimately inadequate at addressing problems that plague modern society (Lewis and Jhally 1998; Kellner and Share 2005, 2007). This paper argues that by reexamining the foundational philosophies of Plato and John Dewey, tracing the development of their ideas in contemporary social theory and media scholarship, and identifying their application in media literacy scholarship, media literacy scholars and practitioners may be able to create a media literacy education that more effectively confronts injustice and promotes social change. The author calls this process the "re-politicization of media literacy education" because he argues that at the heart of the philosophies of Plato and Dewey, from which current approaches to media education commonly draw, is a commitment to the creation of a just society through critical civic engagement.

Download: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ985679.pdf