Jean Anyon

Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

This article discusses examples of work tasks and interaction in five elementary schools in contrasting social class communities. The examples illustrate differences in classroom experience and curriculum knowledge among the schools. The paper also assesses student work in each social setting in the light of a theoretical approach to social class analysis. It is suggested that there is a “hidden curriculum” in school work that has profound implication for theory—and practice—in education.

Elementary Social Studies Textbooks and Legitimating Knowledge

Abstract Several critics have suggested that elementary social studies texts present a naive image of society by not including information on political or other social conflict, and by presenting students with an overly positive view of the benevolence and accountability of political authority. One explanation for the unrealistic information chosen for students in their elementary social studies texts is that it represents what Silberman and Shaver have called educator “mindlessness” or inattention to critical thought. The present paper attempts to counter this type of explanation by discussing the possible social meanings of social studies knowledge. It is argued that a major social function of the information in social studies textbooks is to provide formal justification for and legitimation of ongoing institutional practices.

The Retreat of Marxism and Socialist Feminism: Postmodern and Poststructural Theories in Education

ABSTRACTAnyon uses her personal history as a contributor to the resurgence of progressive scholarship in the late 1970s and early 1980s to critique recent work in education. She argues that Marxist thought has failed to develop and has been largely abandoned by critical scholars, many of whom now seek empowerment for teachers and students through postmodern and poststructural ideas. She undertakes an analysis of these new theories, and of their instantiation in educational scholarship that claims to use them to foster empowerment and change. Anyon assesses the political possibilities and consequences of these theories and the practices they entail. The goal of the analysis is to identify theory that will be useful in struggles for a more equitable society.

Education, Social ‘Structure’ and the Power of Individuals

Abstract This paper addresses the question of the relative contribution of individuals and of social ‘structures’ to the form and content of education in society. Premises underlying arguments according primacy to socio-structural forces are compared with social assumptions embedded in concepts focusing on educational consequences of individual activity. The utility and limitations of both views are identified and discussed. Suggestions for educational praxis are offered on the basis of the theoretical position adopted as most appropriate.