Education: Culture, Economy, and Society is a book for everyone concerned with the social study of education: students studying the sociology of education, foundations of education, educational policy, and other related courses. It aims to establish the social study of education at the centre stage of political and sociological debate about post-industrial societies. In examining major changes which have taken place in the late twentieth century, it gives students a comprehensive introduction to both the nature of these changes and to their interpretation in relation to long-standing debates within education, sociology, and cultural studies.

The extensive editorial introduction outlines the major theoretical approaches within the sociology of education, assesses their contribution to an adequate understanding of the changing educational context, and sets out the key issues and areas for future research. The 52 papers in this wide-ranging thematic reader bring together the most powerful work in education into an international dialogue which is sure to become a classic text.

Contributors: Professor Michael W. Apple, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA Madeleine Arnot, Cambridge University Professor Stanley Aronowitz, Graduate Centre, City University of New York Professor David Ashton, University of Leicester, UK Professor Stephen J. Ball, King's College, University of London Professor Basil Bernstein, Institute of Education, University of London Professor Jill Blackmore, Deakin University, Australia Professor Allan Bloom, University of Chicago Professor Pierre Bourdieu, College de France, Paris Dr Richard Bowe, King's College, University of London Dr Phillip Brown, Reader in Sociology, University of Kent, UK John E. Chubb, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, Washington Professor John Codd, Massey University, NZ Professor James Coleman, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago Professor R.W. Connell, University of California, Santa Cruz Professor Roger Dale, University of Auckland, NZ Linda Darling-Hammond, William F. Russell Professor, Foundation of Education, Columbia University Professor Miriam David, South Bank University Professor William De Fazio, St John's University, New York Lisa D. Delpit, Baltimore City Schools Professor Michelle Fine, Graduate Centre, City University of New York Professor Stephen Fraser, Vice-President and Executive Editor, Basic Books Dr Sharon Gewirtz, King's College, University of London Professor Henry Giroux, Pennsylvania State University Professor John Goldthorpe, Nuffield College, Oxford Dr Liz Gordon, Senior Lecturer, University of Canterbury, NZ Professor Gerald Grace, University of Durham, UK Dr Andy Green, Reader in Education, Institute of Education, University of London, UK Professor A.H. Halsey, Nuffield College, Oxford Professor Andy Hargreaves, The Ontario Institute for Student Education, Toronto,Canada Professor Richard Harker, Massey University, NZ Professor Anthony Heath, Nuffield College, Oxford Professor Carolyn Kelly, Stanford University, California Professor Jane Kenway, Deakin University, Australia Professor Krishan Kumar, University of Kent, UK Professor Annette Lareau, Southern Illinois University Professor Hugh Lauder, University of Bath, UK Professor Henry M. Levin, Stanford University, California Dr Darren McMahon, University College, Dublin Professor Andrew McPherson, Edinburgh University Terry M. Moe, Associate Professor of Political Science, Stanford University, California Professor Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Hamilton College, USA Professor Peter Mortimore, Director, Institute of Education, University of London, UK Professor John U. Ogbu, University of California, Berkeley Professor Robert B. Reich, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Professor I. Serna, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA Professor Johnny Sung, University of Leicester, UK Martin Thrupp, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ Dr Harry Torrance, University of Sussex, UK Sietske Waslander, University of Groningen, Netherlands Professor Amy Stuart Wells, UCLA Professor Gaby Weiner, South Bank University, UK Professor Cornel West, Harvard University Professor Geoffrey Whitty, Institute of Education, University of London Professor J. Douglas Willms, University of British Columbia, Canada Professor William Julius Wilson, The University of Chicago Dr Maureen Woodhall, Institute of Education, University of London, UK Michael Young, Institute of Community Studies, London, UK

This important book takes the discussion of racial inequality in America beyond simplistic arguments of white racism and black victimization to a more complex conversation about the separate but unequal situation in many schools today. Amy Stuart Wells and Robert Crain investigate the St. Louis, Missouri, school desegregation plan, a unique agreement that since 1983 has given black inner-city students the right to choose to attend predominantly white suburban schools. After five years of research and hundreds of interviews with policymakers, administrators, teachers, students, and parents, Wells and Crain conclude that when school desegregation is examined from these many perspectives, more strengths than weaknesses emerge. They call for a reexamination of now-popular school choice policies across the country so that these policies may help to bring about more racial and social-class integration. Stepping over the Color Line intertwines data on student achievement and racial isolation with stories of the people who participated in the St. Louis program. The authors set these individuals within a broad historical and social context and demonstrate how important linkages between the past and present help explain why efforts to overcome racial inequality-in St. Louis and in the larger society-are so difficult. "The authors do a superb job of explaining how this innovative program came about, placing it in a broad context that takes it beyond its immediate and local implications. The book is at times heartbreaking and at times uplifting."-Richard Zweigenhaft, co-author of Blacks in the White Establishment? A Study of Race and Class in America

Deepening disaffection with conventional public schools has inspired flight to private schools, home schooling, and new alternatives, such as charter schools. Barely a decade old, the charter school movement has attracted a colorful band of supporters, from presidential candidates, to ethnic activists, to the religious Right. At present there are about 1,700 charter schools, with total enrollment estimated to reach one million early in the century. Yet, until now, little has been known about the inner workings of these small, inventive schools that rely on public money but are largely independent of local school boards.

"Inside Charter Schools" takes readers into six strikingly different schools, from an evangelical home-schooling charter in California to a back-to-basics charter in a black neighborhood in Lansing, Michigan. With a keen eye for human aspirations and dilemmas, the authors provide incisive analysis of the challenges and problems facing this young movement.

Do charter schools really spur innovation, or do they simply exacerbate tribal forms of American pluralism? "Inside Charter Schools" provides shrewd and illuminating studies of the struggles and achievements of these new schools, and offers practical lessons for educators, scholars, policymakers, and parents.