This anthology introduces some of the most influential literature shaping our understanding of the social and cultural foundations of education today. Together the selections provide students a range of approaches for interpreting and designing educational experiences worthy of the multicultural societies of our present and future. The reprinted selections are contextualized in new interpretive essays written specifically for this volume.

Contributions by: Keith Basso, Gregory Bateson, Howard S. Becker, Caroline Bledsoe, Yehudi Cohen, R. W. Connel et al, Emile Durkheim, Donna Eder, Margaret Eisenhart, Julianna Flinn, Signithia Fordham, Clifford Geertz, James B.Greenberg, Shirley Brice Heath, Jules Henry, Dorothy Holland, Bradley A. U. Levinson, Margaret Mead, Hugh Mehan, Jan Nespor, John Ogbu, Sherry Ortner, Deborah Reed-Danahay, Laura Rival, Margaret Sutton, Carlos Velez-Ibáñez, Raymond Williams