ABSTRACT:
The paper analyzes the possibilities of literacy for a civic pedagogy. We rely on the idea of Education as emancipation, in the context of mass communication, based on Adorno's and Horhkeimer’s reflections, understanding the importance of culture as an instrument of mediation between the individual and the world. We adopt the interdisciplinary perspective of Cultural Studies, specifically Richard Hoggart’s works, through which we consider that consumers / viewers - even when exposed to mass media which exert cultural and social control through the use of competent discourse - are not inert, permeable, but able to respond. In this sense, we see the centrality of educational policies considering literacy as a process that encompasses technical skill and cognitive aspects, inserted in a social and cultural context involving structures of power and ideology, according to Brian Street. Thus, literacy, in an educational program for freedomseems to be a possibility to widen Brazilian democracy, in line with Paulo Freire’s thinking and aiming a civic formation implemented by participation and discursive inclusion.
Keywords:
Literacy; Discourse; Education for citizenship; Cultural industry; Democracy