Social Class, Social Action, and Education : The Failure of Progressive Democracy

Middle-class progressives in the early 20th Century wanted to transform a corrupt and chaotic industrial America into an “authentic” democracy. But they were led astray by their privilege. Focused on enhancing the voices of individuals, generations of progressives remained blind to the rich culture of “democratic solidarity” infusing labor unions and organizing in poor communities. This book traces the problematic evolution of progressive democracy in America, focusing on schools as a key site of progressive practice. At the same time, it examines alternative strategies for developing more empowering approaches to democratic education and collective action. "Middle-class progressives in the early twentieth century wanted to transform a corrupt and chaotic industrial America into an "authentic" democracy, but they were arguably led astray by their privilege. Focused on enhancing the voices of individuals, generations of progressives remained blind to the rich culture of "democratic solidarity" infusing labor unions and organizing in poor communities. This book traces the problematic evolution of progressive democracy in America, focusing on schools as a key site of progressive practice. At the same time, it examines alternative strategies for developing more empowering approaches to democratic education and collective action"--Provided by publisher. This volume focuses on progressivism's conceptions of democracy. The analysis is interdisciplinary, beginning with a broad-ranging history of working- and middle-class culture in America, and grounded in American pragmatism, with the educator and philosopher, John Dewey, as its central "character." Schutz demonstrates that progressive ideas of democracy emerged out of the practices of a new middle class, reacting, in part, against the more conflictive social struggles of the working-class. The volume traces two distinct branches of democratic progressivism: collaborative and personalist. After Machine generated contents note: PART I: OVERVIEW * Social Class and Social Action * PART II: COLLABORATIVE PROGRESSIVISM * John Dewey's Conundrum: Can Democratic Schools Empower? * John Dewey and a "Paradox of Size": Faith at the Limits of Experience * PART III: PERSONALIST PROGRESSIVISM * The Lost Vision of 1920s Personalists * The Free Schools Movement * PART IV: DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY * Community Organizing: A Working-Class Approach to Democratic Empowerment * PART V: CASE STUDY * Social Class and Social Action in the Civil Rights Movement * PART VI: CONCLUSION * Building Bridges?