Chapter 1: Power and Service-Learning: Salience, Place, and Practice

Critical theorists examine power relationships within society to document how power is shared and transferred among social groups (Darder, Baltadano & Torres, 2003). This discussion of power in service-learning is informed by critical theorists Foucault (1977) and Gramsci (1971), and is contextualized using Freire’s (1970) critical insight. Gramsci’s (1971) social reproduction theory is used to demonstrate that when servicelearning is enacted without attention to imbalances of power, servicelearning can perpetuate the dominant group’s monopoly on power within society. Alternatively, Foucault’s (1977) conception of power as a dynamic process, resisting linear interpretations of the powerful imposing on the powerless, provides a fresh perspective on how service-learning can be used as a tool to break through systems of social reproduction when multiple dimensions and directions of power are attended to within servicelearning practice. Finally, Freire’s (1970) conscientization helps us understand the importance of developing an explicit awareness of one’s personal power through service-learning. Service-learning can be a vehicle in which the manifestation of Freire’s (1970) conscientization is possible through praxis, or the synthesis of reflection in action. This can be enacted through the service-learning process when the development of specific skills and knowledge are used to empower students to work with others to accomplish meaningful change in their world.