A 'Fear' Studies Perspective and Critique: Analyzing English and Stengel's Progressive Study of Fear and Learning in 'Education Theory.' Technical Paper No. 37

The author critiques the progressive approach of two contemporary educational philosophers (English and Stengel) on the topic of fear and learning. Using a postmodern integral approach, this article examines the tendency of reductionism, individualism, and psychologism as part of a hegemonic liberalism and modernism in discourses on fear and learning commonly adopted by educators. A critical fear management/education and "Fear" Studies agenda are posited as both a location for critique of the hidden curriculum in fear studies in general, and as a new site for a more productive and emancipatory discourses on fear and "fear" for a post-9/11 world. (Contains 67 footnotes.)