Reading, Writing and Resistance

Adolescence and Labor in a Junior High School

Robert B. Everhart

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English

Routledge
15 December 2024

Age groups: adolescents; Sociology; Moral & social purpose of education; Secondary schools

Series: Routledge Library Editions: The Adolescent

A story of everyday life in an American junior high school, originally published in 1983, this book demonstrates the ways in which the school culture of early adolescence both supports and denies the cultural and economic requirements of the parent society that surrounds it. It explores this school culture in relation to the local and national in political economy, to class, race and gender, and to the needs of the state.

The author approaches the work of students in school as a labor process in the context of an advanced capitalist society. He describes such typical junior high activities as ‘goofing off’ and ‘bugging the teacher’ by examining the meaning of these activities to the students engaged in them, and brings acute observation and sensitivity to bear on the forms of resistance that arise among the students, showing that this resistance is a form of power which students exercise in the face of their estranged status. The nature and consequences of this resistance are examined in detail, especially as they relate to the context of a society in which estranged labor, in one form or another, is the dominant characteristic for most members. Throughout the book, the subtle pressures, the cliques, the vitality, the boredom and the ever-present humor of school life are explored.

By integrating the insights of Habermas with the theories of Marx, the author is able to examine the tension between the ‘reified knowledge’ of the school and the ‘regenerative knowledge’ of the students in a sensitive ethnography which captures the student world in ways which have been missed in the past.

By: Robert B. Everhart
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781032380629
ISBN 10: 1032380624
Series: Routledge Library Editions: The Adolescent
Pages: 302
Publication Date: 15 December 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Series Editor’s Preface. Author’s Preface. 1. Introduction 2. The Community and the School 3. The Classroom World 4. The World of Don’s Group 5. The World of Chris’s Group 6. ‘What Did You Do in English Today?’ ‘Nothing, Just Goofed Off’ 7. Student ‘Power’ 8. Summary and Conclusions. Appendix A: Lesson Plans. Appendix B: Methodology. Notes. Name Index. Subject Index.