ABSTRACT
The economic and cultural reproduction approaches highlighted important connections between the capitalist economy and schools (Giroux, 1981). Focusing on the power of dominant groups to sustain inequitable social patterns in schools through hierarchical social relations and the curriculum also provided important new insights for educators. Additionally, this scholarship made the research community more aware of students from working-class backgrounds. However, as critical scholars spent more time in schools and as the U.S. society entered the 1970s and 1980s, a number of problems with reproduction approaches became apparent (Apple, 1982; Giroux, 1983). Reproduction approaches seemed unable to account for the behavior of working-class students and parents as illustrated by the following narrative.
