The social role of education between emancipation and empowerment

Abstract

Education, in the various contexts of learning, substantially assumes a “social role”. On this premise, the present contribution draws attention to the different processes of emancipation and the rhetorical and weighting dilemmas that derive from them for those who assume responsibility for the educational process, as well as to the relationships that, according to a social justice perspective, emancipation entertains with empowerment. In conclusion, it is argued that there can be no true emancipation of people without empowerment, and in the absence of civic guarantees and rights, as well as redistribution and recognition policies.