Abstract

Even beyond the borders of Germany, Klaus Mollenhauer is considered a classical author of twentieth-century social pedagogy. In addition to having worked as a social welfare worker, he also published a number of social-pedagogical studies as well as a highly influential introductory text on social work. However, within the current academic debates surrounding social issues, his ideas and reflections are framed more in a historical context. However, a look at the English-speaking world paints a different picture. Here, Mollenhauer is considered an educational theorist and philosopher of education, a prominent figure of critical pedagogy as well as a thinker that broadly drew from phenomenology and anthropology. In the German educational discourse, many of Mollenhauer’s contributions are still regarded as relevant: whether his critique of the so-called geisteswissenschaftliche educational tradition, his turn to a critical and emancipatory pedagogy, his social scientific ’Forgotten Connections’, or his studies on aesthetic and cultural theories of education, Mollenhauer’s works are as important today as ever. In this context, the dispute about research methodology for investigating educational phenomena was a significant by-product. Furthermore, Mollenhauer’s voice enriches the debate concerning the transformation of educational studies by drawing on cultural studies und cultural theory.