Introduction
Conscientization is a neologism, coming from the Spanish word conscientización.It conveys the idea of developing, strengthening, and changing consciousness. It was created in the field of education, specifically of adult education, in the early 1960s, producing at the same time a new conception of consciousness. Brazilian educator Paulo Freire was the first to spread its use, although at the same time Alvaro Vieira Pinto (1961), a close colleague, was producing ideas very near to those Freire introduced in his first published work, Education as Practice of Liberty(1964, 1970 in its English translation). Freire provided the first definition of the concept of conscientization, linking it to social sciences, to participatory modes of practice, and to the concept of liberation as a daily task able to be carried out by any person. By the mid-1970s and early 1980s, critical theories developed in the field of psychology included the concept of consciousness along with...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Barreiro, J. (1986/1974). Educación Popular y Proceso de Concientization [Popular education and conscientization process]. México, DF: Siglo XXI.
Dussel, E. (1985). Philosophy of liberation. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.
Fals Borda, O. (1986). Conocimiento y poder popular. [Knowledge and popular power]. Bogotá, Colombia: Siglo XXI.
Freire, P. (1963). Conscientizacao e Alfabetizacao. Revista de Cultura de Refice, (4–1), 5–24. Pernambuco, Brazil.
Freire, P. (1968/1981). La Importancia de Leer y el Proceso de Liberación. [The importance of literacy and the liberation process] (pp. 38–39). Mexico, DF: Siglo XXI.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Opressed. New York: Herder & Herder.
Freire, P. (1973). Extension o Comunicación? La Concientización en el Medio Rural [Extension or communication. Conscientization in the rural environment]. Mexico, DF: Siglo XXI.
MartÃn-Baró, I. (1986). Hacia una PsicologÃa de la Liberación. [Towards a psychology of liberation]. Boletin de PsicologÃa. University of Centroamericana JSC, (22), 219–231.
Montero, M. (2009). Methods for liberation: critical consciousness in action. In M. Montero & C. Sonn (Eds.), Psychology of liberation (pp. 73–92). New York: Springer.
Montero, M. (2012a). Conscientization. In D. J. Christie (Ed.), The encyclopedia of critical psychology (Vol. I, pp. 240–242). New York: Springer.
Montero, M. (2012b). Problematization. In D. J. Christie (Ed.), The encyclopedia of critical psychology (Vol. III, pp. 890–893). New York: Springer.
Moreno, A. (1993). El aro y la trama. Episteme, Modernidad y Pueblo [The hoop and the weave. Episteme, modernity and people]. Caracas, Venezuela: CIP (Centre of Popular Research).
Vieira Pinto, A. (1961). Consciencia e Realidade Nacional [Consciousness and National Reality]. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: ISEB-MEC.
Online Resources
Freire Institute. University of Central Lancashire, UK: http://www.freire.org/conscientization/
Liberation Psychology. English Language Liberation Psychology: www.libpsy.org
Mark Burton: www.compsy.org.uk/markburt.htm
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Montero, M. (2014). Conscientization. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_55
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_55
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5582-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5583-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Sciences