This paper considers how urban, ethnically diverse working class girls' constructions of femininities mediate and shape their dis/engagement with education and schooling. We discuss how girls generated a sense of identity value/worth through practices such as "speaking my mind"--which prioritized notions of agency and visibility and…

This monograph examines fundamental themes of equality and democracy prominent in Australian educational discourse and reform efforts during the past century, particularly since World War II. The first section argues that these ideals, while representing positive and progressive intentions, have not contributed to social justice but have led to…

Library historians and historians of literacy have been more creative than journalism historians in using individual-level historical data such as deeds, wills, depositions, surveys, and census figures to study reading behaviors of the past. For example, the series of family cost of living surveys conducted in the United States by state and…

This study explores the relationship between economic events which occurred during the 1970s and 1980s and the development of a proletarian class structure in the United States. Contrary to theoretical expectations, the data show a decisive acceleration in the growth of the managerial class. Internationalization of business and technological and…

Summarizes an investigation designed to demonstrate the utility of selective recall as a partial index of a preferred attitude. The experiment, which dealt with maternal attitudes on three child-rearing themes, revealed social class differences in the selective recall of information related to the importance of physical affection and…

The most central issue facing educational managers is the redefinition of equal opportunity based on disdvantaged groups' own perceptions of their needs and their analysis of why existing measures have failed. Late twentieth century policies must provide for power sharing at all levels among all groups. Consultation and broader recruitment…

Presents a study of 207 employed AFDC recipients whose benefits were terminated or reduced by 1981 federal policy changes. Findings report respondents' source of income, household characteristics, employment history, expense patterns, child care, coping and social support strategies, health and health care, and psychosocial outlook on life.…

This essay, written from a Marxist perspective, outlines the historical development of the idea of "the public." The author concludes that lifelong education is the result of working class solidarity rather than the academic heritage of the nineteenth century. (JB)

Describes a study of the intelligibility of three dialects--standard English, New Yorkese, and Black English--for working-class adult English learners. Results showed that comprehension was significantly affected by dialect and that learner judgments of the speakers in terms of job status, friendliness, and appearance paralleled the…

Informed by recent Marxist education theory, the author gives a new account of the changes brought about by the 1875 Education Act in South Australia. Many of these changes, although couched in terms of morality and efficiency, represented a direct assault on the lifestyles and culture of the laboring people. (RM)

This book examines Mexican American and white girls coming of age in California's Central Valley, offering tools for understanding the ways in which class identity is constructed, and at times fails to be constructed, in relationship to color, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Chapter 1, "Portraying Waretown High," introduces the issue.…

When Studs Terkel published "Working" in 1974, it quickly found its way into high school and college classrooms across the country. Not surprisingly, in the past 30 years, "Working" has sold over one million copies. This teaching guide for "Working" helps teachers to introduce their students not only to a great text,…

Understanding collaborative writing as a form of networking is useful in that it highlights the fact that composition students do not have the same type of networks or networking skills. Composition assignments should take into account the digital divide and should foster networking across social class divisions because invention is a social act.…

This book describes the classrooms and homes of working class children struggling not only to learn to read but also to deal with the kind of subjectivity that literacy simultaneously holds out to and refuses them. One theme threaded throughout the book concerns the ways in which students' engagements with literacies are connected with their own…

Discusses Gramsci's political education model, which explains the role of education in building an alternative, anti-capitalist cultural formation. Considers the definition of hegemony, the form of pedagogy best serving to develop critical consciousness, Gramsci's break with Marxist-Leninist traditions, and the revolutionary role of the common…