The
Construction of
Identity
Kenneth J. Saltman
By Cynthia J. Spence
Kenneth J. Saltman
Assistant Professor
DePaul University , Chicago
School of Education
(773) 325 - 4689
Privatization of public schools,
school commercialism, globalization
and education, charter schools, No
Child Left Behind, the Edison
Schools Corporation, military
involvement in public schools.
E-mail: ksaltman@depaul.edu
Books
Saltman examines how
privatization policies such as
No Child Left Behind are
designed to deregulate
schools, favoring business
while undermining public
oversight. Examining current
policies in New Orleans,
Chicago, and Iraq, Capitalizing
on Disaster shows how the
struggle for public schooling is
essential to the struggle for a
truly democratic society.
Saltman uses the Edison
saga to highlight key
debates about the role of
schools in American
democracy and illuminate
broader issues of
privatization and cultural
diversity. Showing how
the profit motive helped
created "Edron," the book
will force teachers,
parents, students, and
general readers to
reconsider the role of
private money in this
critical part of our public
life.
From schools advertising
McDonald's, Nike, and Shell oil
to military generals appointed as
superintendents; from corporate
CEOs hailed as education
experts to students suspended
for wearing Pepsi tee shirts on
Coke day; "Collateral Damage"
sifts through a wide range of
incidents to reveal how the rising
corporatization of public schools
needs to be understood as a
part of a broader attack on the
public sector
This groundbreaking collection
explores how education policy is
being reshaped by disaster
politics from the natural disasters
of the Asian tsunami and the
hurricanes in the Gulf Coast, to
the human-made disasters in
Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Sudan,
Indonesia. The United States is
increasingly shaping policy and
politics.
Identity: Forces at Play
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Class
Race
Ethnicity
Gender
Sex
Age
Language
Nation
“Risk” Factors
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Deficit model of identity.
Presumes that the privileged
position within these
categories is the norm, the
benchmark, or the ideal.
Problems to be “overcome.”
Excuses society’s role.
Sigmund Freud, 1905
and Peter Blos, 1962
“Identity is an individualized
phenomenon, subject to
personal choice and effort, as
well as to internal motivation
and conflict” (238).
Identity is Constructed
Early in life Blos (1904-1997) became a
friend of Erik Homburger, who later became
the psychoanalyst Erik Erikson.
Erik Erikson
(1902-1994),
Born in Frankfurt,
Germany, Erikson
was an American
psychoanalyst
who made major
contributions to
the field of
psychology with
his work on child
development and
on the identity
crisis.
Erik Erikson
“Identity: Youth in Crisis” Page 245
“Identity formation has been
deemed the pivotal developmental
task for adolescents, as they
traverse the path from childhood
to adulthood” (238).
Our goal is to support youth in
forming a healthy identity.
Social and Psychological Experience
Erik Erikson
“Identity: Youth in Crisis” Page 245
“The balance between identity
and identity confusion is in
motion or in process throughout
the lifespan, although
adolescence is the pivotal time
for its formation, and
stabilization” (239).
G. Stanley Hall
(1844-1924) “From Adolescence” Page 21
“The connection between the
self and society is inextricably
interwoven” (238).
Social crisis imperils development
In 1887 Hall founded the American
Journal of Psychology.
Stuart Hall
“From Representation: Cultural Representations and
signifying practices” Page 295
“Social identity is a
dynamic, everchanging discursive,
representational
process, through which
differential self-other
meanings are mutually
forged, contested, and
altered throughout
historical time” (238).
Social Experience
He is currently emeritus
at The Open University
and Visiting Professor,
Goldsmith College,
Research interests in
cultural theory and
cultural studies, race,
ethnicity and cultural
identity.
Stuart Hall
“From Representation: Cultural Representations and
signifying practices” Page 295
“Circuit of Culture”
School
– Mass Media
– Home
– Community
– Religion
– State
Organize social life and inform our
relations with others and places
individuals within social hierarchies.
–
Stuart Hall
“From Representation: Cultural Representations and
signifying practices” Page 295
How do teachers as meaningmakers contribute to
constructing student
identities in ways that are
more democratic, critical,
egalitarian, and just? (241)
Ann Arnett Ferguson
“From Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black
Male Masculinity” Page 311
Symbols including
affect, style,
manners,
expressiveness, and
language, are
wielded like
weapons to enforce
cultural order. (241)
Ann Arnett Ferguson demonstrates how a group of
eleven- and twelve-year-old males are identified by school
personnel as "bound for jail" and how the youth construct a
sense of self under such adverse circumstances. Anne
Ferguson is Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies
and Women's Studies, Smith College.
Ann Arnett Ferguson
“From Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black
Male Masculinity” Page 311
She calls into question
widespread beliefs about
discipline that justify punitive
treatment of students rather
than approaches to learning
that take seriously the
relationship of youth identity.
(241)
Janie Victoria Ward
“Racial Identity Formation” Page 259
Educators need to
Understand the
challenges faced by
youth in resisting
essentialist meanings
about race, and
educational institutions
have a responsibility to
disrupt destructive
polices, practices, and
cultural norms.
Shepherding children through the
demanding years of adolescence
can be a struggle for any parent.
But black parents must also help
their children confront the
psychological fallout of racism.
Janie Victoria Ward is
Associate Professor of
Education and Human
Services at Simmons
College and is co-editor of
Mapping the Moral Domain
(1988).
Enora Brown
“The Middle School Concept and the Purpose of Education” Page 151
“Freedom for Some, Discipline for ‘others’” Page 271
Associate Professor
Educational Policy Studies and Research
773-325-1673
ebrown@depaul.edu
She examines shifts in the economy
and the state apparatus, of which
schools are a part, as these complex
forces dynamically contribute to the
creation of particular social identities
and life trajectories for youth.
Argues for liberatory educational practices
Stacey J. Lee
“The Absent/Silent/Model Minority” Page 329
Focuses on Asian
Americans and
how corporate
mass media
influence how
Asian Americans
are treated in
schools and
other state
institutions.
Model Minority
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Educational Policy Studies
313 Rust Hall
115 North Orchard Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53715
Tel: (608) 262-6846
Email: slee@education.wisc.edu
Dennis A. Anderson
“Lesbian and Gay Adolescents: Social and Developmental
Considerations” Page 337
and Peter McLaren
Discuss social
issues surrounding
gay and lesbian
youth.
How can the
particular social
relations of
homosexuality be
taken up critically
by teachers in
relation to the
politics of
difference.
Peter McLaren (b. August 2, 1948) is
internationally recognized as one of
the leading architects of critical
pedagogy and known for his scholarly
writings on critical literacy the
sociology of education cultural
studies, critical ethnography, and
Marxist theory.
McLaren is currently Professor
of Education, Graduate School
of Education and Information
Studies, at UCLA
Angela Valenzuela
“Subtractive schooling and Divisions
Among Youth” Page 357
Examines social forces that
contribute to divisions amongst
Mexican American youth. That are
created, negotiated and contested
in schools.
School’s rules, language policies,
and devaluation of Spanish are
divisive and institutionalize
inequality.
Angela Valenzuela
“Mexican-ness”
Associate Professor, Curriculum & Instruction
and Center for Mexican American Studies
University of Texas
SZB, Room 461
Austin, Texas 78712
(512) 232-6008; Fax Fax: (512) 471-8460
e-mail: Valenz@mail.utexas.edu
Donaldo Macedo
“English Only: The Tongue-Tying of America” Page 375
Examines the
origins of the
English Only
Movement and
challenges all to
oppose this
movement and to
engage in a new
concept of literacy
that is emancipatory
and embraces
social culture.
P.O. Box 235 Minot, MA 02055
Fax: (617) 287-6511
Phone: (617) 287-5760
Email:
donaldo.macedo@umb.edu
Blaise Pascal (1623-62), French
philosopher, mathematician, and
physicist, considered one of the
great minds in Western intellectual
history.
Our achievements of today are but
the sum total of our thoughts of
yesterday. You are today where the
thoughts of yesterday have brought
you and you will be tomorrow where
the thoughts of today take you.