Popular Culture, Schooling and Everyday Life Schooling and the Language of Everyday Life

'œThe editors have brought together leading radical sociologists, educators, and others to discuss working-class popular culture, critical pedagogy, and the possibilities of school-related social reconstruction. Whether the book succeeds in providing 'the pedagogical grounds for radicalizing the emancipatory possibilities of teaching and learning,' is 'a discourse that represents a political as well as a pedagogical project.' The overall tone is thoughtfully restrained, yet urgent--not stridently polemical as in conventional neo-Marxist tracts. This is a contribution to critical, normative, and interpretive educational scholarship. Interpretations of rock 'n' roll (e.g., Springsteen's work), television situation comedies ('The Honeymooners'), and, especially, Hollywood movies (Dirty Dancing) are most helpful in demonstrating the efficacy of popular culture. Quality of the writing ranges from jargonized critical theorizing to trenchant analyses of popular 'art' (Paul Willis), televangelism (Peter McLaren and Richard Smith), 'romance' programs on TV (Mimi White), and working-class life-style (Stanley Aronowitz). E.D. Hirsch Jr. (Cultural Literacy) and Allan Bloom (The Closing of the American Mind) may have met their match in this strategically crafted case for the expansion of social democracy in post industrial society. Copious chapter references and occasional photographs, and an index. Graduate level.'' ChoiceGiroux, Henry A. is the author of 'Popular Culture, Schooling and Everyday Life Schooling and the Language of Everyday Life' with ISBN 9780897891875 and ISBN 0897891872.