The neoliberal agenda promotes education as a route toward success in university and career. However, a neoliberal economy requires large numbers of workers willing to accept low-paying, dead-end jobs. The students most likely to take these jobs are those who have struggled with literacy and so schools must, in Bourdieu's terms, re/produce,…

Background: This article examines the emergence of the middle and working classes in America and describes key characteristics of these cultures as they manifest themselves today. It then explores the effects of social class on our conceptions of democracy. Purpose: To help educators understand the relationship between social action strategies and…

This article presents Allan Ornstein's response to highly respected scholar, Bruce Cooper's review of Ornstein's 2007 book, "Class Counts: Education, Inequality and the Shrinking Middle Class." Here Ornstein attempts to elaborate on a few points that he felt Cooper missed in his review.

A comprehensive update of the classic study that delivers both a passionate plea and strategies for teachers, parents, and community organizers to give working-class children the same type of empowering education and powerful literacy skills that the children of upper- and middle-class people receive. The classic, indispensable guide for teachers,…

This paper is a description and discussion of the author, a critical Social Foundations scholar-teacher, and the craft/intellectual/emotional/moral/identity sources that sustain his work. Opening paragraphs describe his family background in the Piedmont province of northern Italy, the Turin (Italy) working class and their attitudes toward work.…