Shirley R. Steinberg (born March 3, 1952) is an educator, author, and public speaker whose work focuses on critical pedagogy and cultural studies. She has written and edited numerous books and articles about critical pedagogy, urban and youth culture,communiity studies, radical love, cultural studies, and issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Steinberg is a research professor of Critical Youth Studies at the University of Calgary and is the executive director of the Freire Project. She has held faculty positions at Montclair State University, Adelphi University, Brooklyn College, The CUNY Graduate Center, University of Barcelona, and McGill University. Steinberg directs the Institute for Youth and Community Research at the University of the West of Scotland.