Education, Democracy and Discourse presents a commentary on democracy in education, and the macro- and micro-political discourses which permit and prohibit this. The key themes explored are: The struggle for democracy in schools and society, the relationships between the processes of schooling and the preparation of the workforce in advanced capitalist societies, the radical transformations of schooling as part of state modernization projects of the neo-conservatives, the neo-liberals and the third way, the creeping destruction of the professional status and culture of public sector workers such as teachers, nurses and social workers. Education, Democracy and Discourse addresses and develops crucial theories in sociology and in the sociology of education and will be of key interest to sociologists and Education Studies students.

Author Biography

Knud Jensen is Associate Professor at The Danish University of Education, Copenhagen. He has led several contract action research projects and has an international reputation for his work on educational innovation; he is very well know in Scandinavia for his writing and for his educational and political activism. Knud Jensen lectures in educational theory, educational sociology and anthropology. Stephen Walker is a Reader in the Sociology of Education, and Visiting Professor in the Science of Education, University of Bari, Italy.