In the past ten years radical educators have developed several theories around the notions of reproduction and resistance. In this article, Henry Giroux critically analyzes the major positions of these theories, finding them inadequate as a foundation for a critical science of schooling. He concludes by outlining the directions for a new theory of…

This article argues that under neoliberal casino capitalism there has been a wholesale attack not only on the social state but also on those public spheres that enable the formative cultures necessary to produce critical agents, engaged subjects, and the literacies necessary to make power and authority accountable. In this instance, the struggle…

This article provides a case study of how a business culture imposes modes of educational leadership on a public school system in New York City that has little if any concerns for empowering children, teachers, and the communities. The article provides a counter-narrative that serves to dispel the notion that the culture of educational empowerment…

A strong conservative current underlies much of what is currently said about authority in schooling. Educational authority should be rooted in the ideal of democratic social transformation, a function it cannot have when conceived of more narrowly in terms of institutional heirarchy and stability. (CB)

Compares the ways in which traditional and critical educational theorists relate the issues of school knowledge and control to the notion of power. Analyzes some of the major contributions each of the various positions has made to understanding how power and knowledge function in school life. (HTH)

The development of the new technology in the U.S. adds to the notion that history is irrelevant and that futurists have nothing to learn from it. Public school pedagogy plays a strong role in perpetuating the hegemony of the social and economic elite. (JN)

What students learn in school is determined more by the hidden curriculum of rigid classroom structures and power relationships than formal curriculum. A less alienating classroom environment must replace these traditional structures, such as tracking, grading, and student powerlessness, if education is really to be reformed. (SJL)

Analyzes the relationship between education and the capitalist society, three positions are taken: theories of social reproduction emphasize the relationship between the process of schooling and economic life; theories of resistance examine the issues of conflict and consciousness between schooling and capitalist society; and the theory of…

Building upon the late Pierre Bourdieu's belief that intellectuals had a major responsibility in bridging intellectual work and the operation of politics, this paper argues that intellectuals, especially those in higher education, need to recognise that youth is an important moral referent and political starting point for addressing a number of…

The dominant discourses of modernity have rarely addressed race and ethnicity as part of a theory of difference and democratic struggle. A postmodern discourse of resistance must develop a cultural politics and antiracist pedagogy. The work of Black feminists and writers can rewrite the relations between power and difference. (SLD)