Dr. Eric Weiner Published Article for Teachers College Record

Dr. Eric Weiner, Associate Professor in Educational Foundations, recently wrote an article for Teachers College Record, entitled “Totalitarianism Rising: The Limits of Democratic Education.”

Pro-democracy educators in the United States often seem confused by Trumpism’s popularity and counter-hegemonic power. Typically, they reduce his supporters to dolts, cynics, racists, or people operating under some version of false consciousness. It rarely occurs to them that tens of millions of people gravitate to Trumpism because neoliberal democracy has failed to provide the poor, working-class, recent refugees, immigrants, and women with formidable levels of political capital. It has also failed to deliver economic, food, health, and educational security to vast segments of the population. This confusion has led to an uncritical acceptance that democratic education will be able to hold back the counter-hegemonic tide of totalitarianism overtaking democracy in the United States.