This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Lipman, P. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Making the Global City, Making Inequality: The Political Economy and Cultural Politics of Chicago School Policy

DePaul University

This article examines current Chicago school reform in the context of economic restructuring, the drive to become a "global city," and the cultural politics of race. The discussion focuses on high stakes testing and accountability policies and on new, special programs and schools. My analysis is based on data from four qualitative case studies of Chicago elementary schools, school system data on the nature and geographic distribution of differentiated programs and schools, and examination of labor force trends and economic development policies. Contrary to the discourse of equity that frames Chicago school reform, I argue that the current policies exacerbate existing race and class inequalities and create new ones. The policies promote unequal educational opportunities and experiences and produce stratified identities with significant implications in Chicago’s new, highly stratified work force. As a whole, Chicago’s reforms support the inherent inequalities of global city development, gentrification, and the displacement of working-class and low-income communities, especially communities of color. I argue that education policies are part of a cultural politics of race aimed at the control and regulation of African-American and Latino youth and their communities. The paper concludes with proposals toward the democratic reconstruction of urban education policy.

Key Words: globalization • inequality • political economy • race and ethnicity • school reform

American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, 379-419 (2002)
DOI: 10.3102/00028312039002379


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				W. F. Tate IV "Geography of Opportunity": Poverty, Place, and Educational Outcomes Educational Researcher, October 1, 2008; 37(7): 397 - 411. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Weiner A Lethal Threat to U.S. Teacher Education Journal of Teacher Education, October 1, 2007; 58(4): 274 - 286. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. Gayles Race, Reward, and Reform: An Implicative Examination of the Florida School Recognition Program Educational Policy, July 1, 2007; 21(3): 439 - 456. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. Lipman and N. Haines From Accountability to Privatization and African American Exclusion: Chicago's "Renaissance 2010" Educational Policy, July 1, 2007; 21(3): 471 - 502. [Abstract] [PDF]

				W. Au High-Stakes Testing and Curricular Control: A Qualitative Metasynthesis Educational Researcher, June 1, 2007; 36(5): 258 - 267. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. E. Watts and N. Erevelles These Deadly Times: Reconceptualizing School Violence by Using Critical Race Theory and Disability Studies American Educational Research Journal, January 1, 2004; 41(2): 271 - 299. [Abstract] [PDF]

				E. Buendia, N. Ares, B. G. Juarez, and M. Peercy The Geographies of Difference: The Production of the East Side,West Side, and Central City School American Educational Research Journal, January 1, 2004; 41(4): 833 - 863. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. Skilton-Sylvester Less Like a Robot: A Comparison of Change in an Inner-City School and a Fortune 500 Company American Educational Research Journal, January 1, 2003; 40(1): 3 - 41. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. A. Gruenewald Foundations of Place: A Multidisciplinary Framework for Place-Conscious Education American Educational Research Journal, January 1, 2003; 40(3): 619 - 654. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Shipps Pulling Together: Civic Capacity and Urban School Reform American Educational Research Journal, January 1, 2003; 40(4): 841 - 878. [Abstract] [PDF]