The Politics, Sociology and Economics of Education : Interdisciplinary and Comparative Perspectives

This book uses international and interdisciplinary approaches to the comparative study of education in its political, sociological, and economic contexts. Major topics include critical theory, hegemony, postmodernism, oppression, disabilities, emancipation, corporatism, meritocracy, democracy, socialization, reproduction, pluralism, inequality, social analysis, postindustrialism, predatory culture, pragmatism, and 'subversion'. Educators from the US, UK, Canada, Netherlands, FRG, Israel, and Sweden survey the current educational scene in the US and Western Europe, major policy debates, and possible solutions for current public policy dilemmas. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Present as Seen From the Past....Pages 3-12 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 Politics, Education, and Paradigmatic Reconceptualism: US Critical Theory in the 1990s....Pages 15-43 Conservative Politics and National Curricula....Pages 45-59 Front Matter....Pages 61-61 Blaming the Victims: The Political Oppression of Disabled People....Pages 63-72 The Repudiation of Criteriology: In Pursuit of Communities of Democracy and Hope....Pages 73-84 Socialization and Economic Reproduction in Pluralistic Welfare Societies....Pages 85-100 Inequality and Education: Changing Theoretical Conceptions....Pages 101-112 Heydorn’s Bildungs Theory and Content as Social Analysis....Pages 113-126 Front Matter....Pages 127-127 Educational Politics, Division of Labor, and Emancipation....Pages 129-140 Corporatism and Identity....Pages 141-152 Educational Reform and Politics in Israel: Change or Economic Reproduction?....Pages 153-168 Educational Policy as Technocratic Strategy: The Politics of Excellence....Pages 169-182 Pedagogy in the Age of Predatory Culture....Pages 183-196 Front Matter....Pages 197-197 Recent Education Reform: Is It a Postmodern Phenomenon?....Pages 199-210 Educational Discourses and Creating a Democratic Public: A Critical Pragmatic View....Pages 211-227 Summary/Conclusions: The Future as Seen from the Present....Pages 229-248 Back Matter....Pages 249-294