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Widespread recognition of the detrimental effects that human activities have had on nature and its ecosystems can now be found in every domain of public policy. Since the inception of international accords in the 1970s provoked greater engagement by nations in environmental amelioration measures, ‘education’ has been lauded as an important panacea to promote a generational shift in attitudes and actions towards the conservation and protection of the environment. Using ‘environmental education’ as a backdrop for our discussion, our intention in this article is to apply the important insights of the Italian Marxist thinker, Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937) to an analysis of educational concerns. Although much existing radical environment theory involves acknowledgement of the complex and dynamic way in which civil society and the political economy are interconnected, Gramsci's historical, dialectical, and materialist worldview brings to light the extent of the hold that the prevailing forces of capitalism exert on those subjected to its valuations. The dynamics of attitudinal change are complex. Gramsci's work provides us with a richer understanding of the depth of the workings of power generated through the nexus of the cultural bulwarks of capitalist ‘production’. This is an interrogation of curriculum theory of a deeper kind.

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