11. A critical conception of mathematics

A critical conception of mathematics emerged through several routes: this chapter takes a closer look at three of them. First, we follow how the students’ movement, beginning in the late 1960s, inspired a critique of university studies in mathematics. This analysis turned into a critique of mathematical modelling, emphasising that it is an illusion that mathematics ensures objectivity and neutrality. It became recognised that, when brought into action, mathematics may have all kinds of technological, economic, and political impacts, including many of the most questionable kind. Second, we see how mathematics becomes recognised as a plurality of constructions. I show that mathematics is shaped through social, historical, cultural, and political – in short, human – processes, and that any uniform conception of mathematics is a deception, if not a falsification. Third, I illustrate how mathematics can be developed as a critical resource and become a means for identifying forms of economic and political oppression. Mathematics can play a part in the struggle for social justice.