Glossary

 
 
Achievement Ideology – The concept of achievement ideology is a belief, supported by discourse of the dominant culture, that "characterized American society as an open one in which barriers to success are mainly personal rather than social" (MacLeod, 1987, p. 1). Therefore, personal achievement becomes the dominant explanation for success rather than privileged social class. 

 Class – Class has been defined as, "the economic, social, and political relationships that govern life in a given social order" (McLaren, 1994, p. 179). 

 Culture – The concept of culture has been thought of as "the particular ways in which a social group lives out and makes sense of its ‘given’ circumstances . . . a set of practices, ideologies, and values from which different groups draw to make sense of the world" (McLaren, 1994, p. 180). Furthermore, culture is, "a form of production through which different groups in either their dominant or subordinate social relations define and realize their aspirations through unequal relations of power" (McLaren, 1994, p. 180). 

 Cultural Capital – MacLeod (1987) discussed cultural capital as, "the general cultural background, knowledge, disposition, and skills that are passed from one generation to the next (p. 12). As an example, MacLeod noted that "upper-class students, by virtue of a certain linguistic and cultural competence acquired through family upbringing, are provided with the means of appropriation for success in schools" (p. 12). 

 Discourse – In defining discourse from a critical theory perspective, Sawicki (1991) referred to Foucault’s discussion of discourse as, "a form of [spoken and written] power that circulates in the social field and can attach to strategies of domination as well as to those of resistance" (p. 43). 

 Discursive Practices – McLaren (1994) defined discursive practices as, "the rules by which discourses are formed, rules that govern what can be said and what must remain unsaid, and who can speak with authority and who must listen" (p. 188). 

 Dominant Culture –Dominant culture may be defined as, "social practices and representations that affirm the central values, interests, and concerns of the social class in control of the material and symbolic wealth of society" (McLaren, 1994, p. 180). See also culture and subordinate culture. 

False generosity – A false generosity is a generosity that reinforces the weaknesses or perceived weaknesses of the oppressed and is offered by the oppressor as a way of maintaining a dominant position over the oppressed. 

Habitus – Habitus was defined by MacLeod (1987) in his citing of Bourdieu (1977): 

[Habitus is] a system of lasting, transportable dispositions which, integrating past experiences, functions at every moment as a matrix of perceptions, appreciations, and actions . . . [and] could be considered as a subjective but not individual system of internalized structures, schemes of perception, conception, and action common to all members of the same group or class. (p. 13) 

 Hegemony - McLaren (1994) defined hegemony as, 

the maintenance of domination not by the sheer exercise of force but primarily through consensual social practices, social forms, and social structures produced in specific sites such as the church, the state, the school, the mass media, the political system, and the family. . . . a struggle in which the powerful win the consent of those who are oppressed, with the oppressed unknowingly participating in their own oppression (p. 182). McLaren’s (1994) definition, however, assumes a certain lack of insight or sensitivity to abuse on the part of the subordinate group. Fine (1991) found that "hegemony does not require consent, only the effective distribution of justifying beliefs which will not be rejected" (p. 202). Fine’s definition of hegemony allows for unknowing consent but also leaves room for insight and understanding on the part of the targets of hegemony. 

Ideology – McLaren (1994) described ideology as, " the production and representation of ideas, values, and beliefs and the manner in which they are expressed and lived out by both individuals and groups. . . . the production of sense and meaning" (p. 184). 

Legitimation- Apple (1990) explained legitimation as, "the justification of group action and its social acceptance. . . . to sanctify existence by bringing it under the dominion of the ultimately right principles" (p. 21) 

Marginalization – Marginalization refers to the process by which subordinate people groups may "suffer severe material deprivation" due to the fact that they "are often positioned by the dominant culture in relations of dependency where they are excluded from equal citizenship rights. Even if they are materially comfortable, these groups may be oppressed on the basis of their marginal status." (McLaren, 1994). 

Official Knowledge – Official knowledge is that knowledge which is common among members of the dominant social class and is privileged within dominant social and economic structures such as the school and much of the workplace. 

Paternalism – Paternalism may be defined as a strong tendency on the part of a member of the dominant social class to view those of a subordinate social class as immature and therefore incapable of caring for their own needs. Therefore, they must be protected from the folly of their own decision making and relieved of the responsibilities of full adulthood. 

Penetration – Willis (1977) defined penetration as, "impulses within a cultural form" that question "the conditions of existence of its members and their position within the social whole" (p. 119). Penetration is often partial as it is limited by ideological blind spots and diversions which impede fullness of insights. 

Power/knowledge – The relationship between power and knowledge was addressed by Foucault (1980) as, "the articulation of each on the other" (p. 51). He noted that "the exercise of power itself creates and causes to emerge new objects of knowledge and accumulates new bodies of information" (p. 51). 

Praxis – Praxis was defined by Freire (1993) as the two components of a true word: action and reflection. Without action, we are left with verbalism and without reflection, activism. 

Racism – As defined by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), racism is, "the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others." Jesse Jackson (1970), in an interview with David Frost, stated the following: 

Racism is a form of skin worship, and as is sickness and a pathological anxiety for America, is so great, until the poor whites---rather than fighting for jobs or education---fight to remain pink and fight to remain white. And therefore there is a strong tendency to view the recipient people as immature and therefore incapable of caring for the needs of a growing body. Like children, they are `protected' from the dangers of error and the burdens of adult responsibility. (Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, 1998) Resistance [from a critical theory perspective] – As defined by McLaren (1994), resistance on the part of members of a subordinate social class is ways in which they reject "their reformulation as docile objects" (p. 196). Depending upon the context, resistance may be manifested in many ways such as work slow downs, feigned ignorance, public denial of hurt feelings, or sabotage. 

Subordinate Culture – The subordinate culture consists of the social practices and representations that reflect the values and interests of that part of society who "live out social relations in subordination to the dominant culture" (McLaren, 1994, p. 180). 

Voice – The concept of voice was addressed by McLaren when he wrote, "Voice . . . then, suggests the means that students have at their disposal to make themselves ‘heard’ and to define themselves as active participants in the world" (p.227).