Class, Ideologies and Educational Futures [Paperback]

This book provides a systematic and detailed analysis of class relations in advanced capitalist societies as a basis for understanding both class differences in educational practices and the relative effects of class and other social background factors on public attitudes toward education. Secondly, the book offers an empirically-grounded summary of the contending educational ideologies in advanced capitalism, through a discourse analysis of the public statements of spokes-persons for major class groupings. Thirdly, using the data from several public opinion surveys in Ontario, profiles of public attitudes on critical education issues are interpreted in terms of the actual effects of class and other social background factors, as well as the mediating influences of contending ideologies. Finally a general approach and array of tactics for creating practical alternative educational and social futures are illustrated through the book.

Introduction. 1. Educational Facts and Intellectual Interpretations. 2. Class Structure in Advanced Capitalism. 3. State Schooling and Class-Based Educational Ideologies. 4. Mass Opinion in Education Crisis: A Class Analysis. 5. Intellectual and Popular Images of the Educational and Social Future. 6. Notes for Educational Praxis in Advanced Capitalism. Index.