Knowledge, Power, and Education

For more than three decades, Michael W. Apple has sought to uncover and articulate the connections among knowledge, teaching, and power in education. His germinal was a watershed title in critical education studies, and has remained in print since its publication in 1979. The more than two dozen books and hundreds of papers, articles, and chapters published since have likewise all contributed to a greater understanding of the relationship between and among the economy, political, and cultural power in society on the one hand "and the ways in which education is thought about, organized, and evaluated" on the otherIn this collection, Apple brings together 13 of his key writings in one place, providing an overview not just of his own career, but of the larger development of the field. A new introduction re- examines the scope of his work and his earlier arguments, and reflects on what remains to be done for those committed to critical education.

"...these books (Can Education Change Society? and Knowledge, Power, and Education) together reminds us that all our individual and local counter-hegemonic efforts in our own colleges, departments, and home communities need to reach out to similar and more regional and national movements. It is the only through such efforts of counter-hegemonic extension that "decentered unities" are formed and Badiouian events occur. Although Badiouian events appear to happen suddenly and out of nowhere, in fact they typically follow years and decades (sometime centuries) of counter-hegemonic struggle.Apple's body of work, generally, and his most recent two books in particular, are a reminder and guide to the "realization of the importance of understanding the connections amoung intersecting power relations and working toward the long-term goals involved in building [what Williams called] 'the long revolution'" - Hans G Despain, Nichols College Massachusetts, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

Michael W. Apple is the John Bascom Professor of Curriuclum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.