This book offers the first sustained examination of the relationship between John Dewey’s democratic philosophy and the social movements of the 1960s in the United States. Bringing together intellectual history, political philosophy, and cultural analysis, Luis S. Villacañas-de-Castro argues that Dewey’s conception of democracy as an expanding participatory process—a widening spiral—provides a powerful framework for understanding the Civil Rights Movement, the New Left, second-wave feminism, and the counterculture. At the same time, the experiences of the sixties offer a new lens through which to reassess Dewey’s philosophy and its continuing relevance. Situating both Dewey and the sixties within the broader trajectory from the New Deal order to neoliberalism, the book advances an original interpretation of democratic change, social movements, and participatory politics. It will be essential reading for scholars and students of philosophy, history, American studies, cultural studies, and democratic theory.

Luis S. Villacañas-de-Castro is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Teacher Education at the University of Valencia, Spain, where he teaches and conducts research in philosophy of education, pedagogy, and didactics.