The Re-education of the American Working Class

This work brings together articles and papers by union leaders, activists, social scientists, and educators to provide an overview of the field of worker education. Along with presenting the major historical models of worker education, the book addresses the present issues confronting worker educators today. The book's final sections present alternative models of worker education that illustrate a variety of approaches currently being employed. All selections found in this volume represent original contributions not published elsewhere. The first section of the book considers the field of worker education from four levels of social determinism: institutional, ideological, pedagogical, and personal. The second part focuses on three historical stages of worker education. The articles cover the early radical phase of worker education, the period of union-university cooperation, and the current, dominant union-sponsored model of worker education. The third section considers issues which have risen from worker education's history, institutional configurations, and worker education's place in modern American society. The final section of the book presents evaluations of working alternatives to the dominant models of worker education. The authors not only discuss specific programs and institutions, but they do so in the context of the historical models outlined in the first two sections and the issues raised in Part 3. This book will be of value to students of the social science and education disciplines, adult and labor educators, trade unionists, and others interested in this burgeoning field.