Galbraith says "this emancipation must be accomplished through adults transforming themselves and their own practices" (p. 188) rather than forcing the child to conform to the adult's way in a more typical socializing model of childhood. She points out, however, that many scholars criticize and marginalize this view arguing that it is not possible for an adult to see from the child's perspective. Galbraith counters that it is not only possible, but an emancipatory childhood studies approach is urgently needed, to discover the child's truth. Similarly, critical theory as a model can offer for my study a way to understand the subjective positions of the families living in low-income circumstances. As a framework, critical theory may provide a way to look at the forces that caused the oppressive situation and show how these forces can be overcome as the oppressed person becomes more aware of them.

Geuss (1981) indicates that critical theories serve as guides for human action by first making people aware of their interests and then serving an emancipatory function to free them from a kind of coercion. He states that critical theories are forms of knowledge which have "cognitive content" (p. 2). They place high importance on self-criticism and recognize that knowledge constitutes power. The importance of self-reflexive modes of dialogue for learning is emphasized. Geuss explains that since these theories are reflective, they differ from objective theories in natural science.

Although critical theory of the Frankfurt School was never unified, and has grown in many different directions, there are some characteristics in common in all critical theories. First, a transition from the present state of society to another state is theoretically possible. Second, the transition is practically necessary, and third, the transition will occur if the agents adopt the critical theory as their "'self consciousness' and act on it" (Geuss, 1981, p. 76).