The aim of this article is to argue that recent social movements force us to take into account not only profound social inequalities, but also the social and cultural diversity produced by recent changes in the economy, as well as a by alternative ways of life and learning. Since the historical making of the working class, a recurrent theme has been the hope to transform society through the education of a "new man". Never the less, recent global capitalist economies have generated an ever more fragmented and dispossessed working class. In response, new social subjects have come into being, often taking up and transforming existing cultural resources and practices to strengthen social movements. I conclude that the acknowledgement of these social movements and formative processes have transformed Enlightenment thought in education, and new ways of thinking about and acting within educational processes.
Social inequality; Diversity; Social movements; Enlightenment; Training