ABSTRACT
Historically, educators have believed that schools are not and should not be involved in politics (Wirt & Kirst, 1982). Since the mid-1970s, however, a number of scholars have begun to demonstrate that schools, like other U.S. institutions, are influenced by and engaged in politics. In fact, many scholars suggest that, contrary to the orderliness suggested by the bureaucratic model, schools operate like small political systems (Ball, 1987; Blase, 1991a; Hoyle, 1986). This focus on political social patterns offers another form of organizational literacy for understanding the recurrent relations that organize what we do with one another in schools, how it is we act together. Consider the teacher and school illustrated here.
