ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses a number of topics having to do with the state and educational reform movements in the late twentieth century. It examines higher education as one of the central sites in which a battle is being waged between neo-conservatives and progressives over how culture gets defined, and whose culture gets represented as legitimate and canonical. The chapter provides a critical feminist reading of white working-class identity at a time when the white working class feels under siege economically and in terms of gender identity by Michelle Fine, Lois Weis, and Judi Addelston. It explores how the curriculum and theoretical understanding of it are changing. The chapter examines the role of popular cultural texts in multicultural studies on race by Cameron McCarthy, Alicia Rodriguez, Stephen David, Heriberto Godina, K. Supriya, and Carrie Wilson-Brown. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.
