This paper discusses employing queer theory (QT) and queer legal theory (QLT) for critical policy analysis as applied to education. In doing so, the authors will highlight how both QT and QLT can empower analyses to look beyond the identity politics of a particular time period or space and toward potential reforms in curriculum, pedagogy, and…

An increasing number of students with Asperger's syndrome are entering college today. Students with Asperger's syndrome face complex symptomology such as difficulty with social skills, narrowed interests, sensory issues, and lack of self-awareness that may affect their ability to complete college and successfully enter the workforce.…

This article demonstrates that the presence of radical discourse in an educational field is not necessarily evidence of criticality in practice. Appropriated by policy and practitioners within a web of power relations, radical discourse may come to act on practice in ways which are antithetical to its theoretical origins. To illustrate this…

"The Peckham Experiment" (Innes H. Pearse and Lucy H. Crocker, Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1985) is a book about the Peckham Health Centre (1935-1950), which was a scientific experiment and community centre set up to identify and foster conditions of good health for local working-class families in South London. The book was…

As children increasingly use digital technologies in interactions with their parents (Marsh, 2003, 2004, 2011; Robinson & Turnbull, 2005), such possibilities create new ways in which literacy is practiced (Barton, Hamilton, & Ivanic, 2000; Jewitt, 2008; Street, 1998). Yet, what the literacy field knows about interactions between children…

Implementation of change in an organisation through culture can elicit a wide array of reactions from organisational members, spanning from acceptance to resistance. Drawing on Hatch's cultural dynamics model and on Wegner's social theory of learning, this paper dwells on an underdeveloped area in the extant literature, namely understanding change…

Among any cohort of American youths, some will use drugs and alcohol whereas others will not. Further, some youngsters will not only use these illegal substances but also abuse them, at times wreaking havoc with their lives and ruining their futures. The purpose of this study is to attempt to unravel this heterogeneity of substance abuse; that is,…

Chief among the goals of American education is the cultivation of democratic citizens. Contrary to State catechism delivered through our schools, America was not born a democracy; rather it emerged as a republic with a distinct bias against democracy. Nonetheless we inherit a great demotic heritage. Abolition, the labor struggle, women's…

The article explores a sociological perspective on grief as a social emotion. Focusing on the social bond with the deceased, the self-concept of the survivor or the power of feeling rules, general sociological theories of emotions (symbolic interactionism, structural theory, behavioral theory) have the potential to deepen the understanding of…

This paper is a reflexive account of the use of critical social theory within my practice as an action researcher. It is set within the ongoing debates between pragmatist and critical tendencies within action research. The paper discusses how a selective deployment of key constructs from the work of Jurgen Habermas has supported my work as a…

Place-building theory, originally developed to assess corporate social responsibility, explains to what degree an organization values and invests in its geographical and social location. Different lines of inquiry--descriptive, evaluative, and prescriptive--elucidate how the organization values place, which in turn suggests its type, its…

The term Critical Social Theory is employed in this article following the tradition of the Frankfurt School, and particularly the work of Herbert Marcuse and his interpretation of the political and social philosophy of Hegel and Marx. Discussing the contribution of G.W.F. Hegel to social theory Marcuse argued that: "Hegel's system brings to a…

This paper aims to critique and develop neo-Vygotskian work in mathematics education from (i) within the Vygotskian and activity theoretic tradition, and where necessary from (ii) a Bourdieusian perspective. First, I critique Roth and Radford's (2011) version of Cultural-historical Activity Theory, suggesting that a classroom episode presented as…

African universities have been called to respond to the social issues of trauma, adversity, injustice and inequality that trouble their embedding communities, their staff and their students. The need for South African universities to respond to HIV/Aids (in particular) includes the opening up of new knowledge about and ways of managing the impacts…

The case for education can be made from many perspectives. This paper makes the case for education based on economic outcomes. Surveying the most recent empirical evidence, it shows the crucial role of education for individual and societal prosperity. Education is a leading determinant of economic growth, employment, and earnings in modern…