Critical Theory, Methods, and Design in Educational Research

Lois Weis is State University of New York Distinguished Professor of Sociology of Education at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Michelle Fine is Distinguished Professor of Critical Psychology and Urban Education at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and founding faculty member of The Public Science Project. They are coauthors of Silenced Voices and Extraordinary Conversations: Re-Imagining Schools; Speed Bumps: A Student Friendly Guide to Qualitative Research, and Construction Sites: Excavating Race, Class and Gender Among Urban Youth, all published by Teachers College Press, among other publications.

Select Guide Rating

• ContentsSeries Foreword  ixAcknowledgments  xvIntroduction  1To Begin Again (James Baldwin)  2Theorizing, Documenting, and Contesting the Structural Gears of Educational Inequity  7A Road Map Through Critical Designs  10References  121.  Critical Bifocality and Circuits of Privilege: Expanding Critical Ethnographic Theory and Design  17Lois Weis and Michelle FineStudying Privilege Inside New Global Realities: Working Inside the Press of the Global Knowledge Economy  22Dispossession Stories: How Public Space Becomes a Private Commodity  32Critical Bifocality and Circuits of Privilege: Concluding Thoughts  41References  43PART I: DOCUMENTING THE RELENTLESS MECHANISMS OF INEQUALITY2.  Gender, Masculinity, and the New Economy  51Lois WeisIntroduction  51Changing Economies, Changing Gender  52Conclusion  66Author’s Note  67References  673.  Class Work: Producing Privilege and Social Mobility in Elite U.S. Secondary Schools  71Lois Weis and Kristin CipolloneNote for Edited Volume  71Introduction  72Course Selection  79Conclusion  88Acknowledgments  90References  904.  In the Guise of STEM Education Reform: Opportunity Structures and Outcomes in Inclusive STEM-Focused High Schools  93Lois Weis, Margaret Eisenhart, Kristin Cipollone, Amy E. Stich, Andrea B. Nikischer, Jarrod Hanson, Sarah Ohle Leibrandt, Carrie D. Allen, and Rachel DominguezSTEM Education Reform  95High School Opportunity Structure  96Sites, Data Collection, and Analysis  99The Effort to Expand STEM Opportunities in Denver  107Conclusion  120Notes  124References  124PART II: DOCUMENTING AND REIMAGINING EDUCATIONAL INEQUITIES THROUGH CRITICAL PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH5.  Participation, Power, and Solidarities Behind Bars: A 25-Year Reflection on Critical Participatory Action Research on College in Prison  131Michelle Fine, María Elena Torre, Kathy Boudin, and Cheryl WilkinsA Short Biography of Community-Based Research  132Critical Participatory Action Research: Epistemic Roots  134Changing Minds: A Study of the Impact of College in Prison  136A Collaborative Approach to Design and Methods  141Organizing and Presenting the Findings  141Reflections on the Changing Minds Study and Research Justice  146Conclusions  146References  1476.  “People Are Demanding Justice”: Pandemics, Protests, and Remote Learning Through the Eyes of Immigrant Youth of Color  149Michelle Fine, Samuel Finesurrey, Arnaldo Rodriguez, Joel Almonte, Alondra Contreras, Aidan Lam, and the S2 Alumni Research CollectiveCPAR as Anti-Racist Public Science  150Theoretical Frameworks: Learning to Read the World and Produce Knowledge Through a Critical Race Lens  152Participatory Design and Analysis  155Why Participation Matters as an Enactment of Anti-Racist Science  157Results  162Building Critical Racial Consciousness Through Pedagogy and Participatory Inquiry  174Refusing a Return to Normality: Contributing Toward an Anti-Racist Developmental Science  175The S2 Alumni Research Collective Members  176Declaration of Conflicting Interests  176References  1777.  Theorizing Hyphenated Selves: Researching Youth Development In and Across Contentious Political Contexts  179Michelle Fine and Selcuk R. SirinSeptember 11 and the War on Terror Through the Eyes of Muslim Youth in the United States  180Literatures at the Hyphen  185Methods for Studying Hyphenated Selves  187Confessions at the Methodological Hyphen  197Documenting a History of the Present for Youth Growing Up in Contentious Political Contexts  198References  1998.  Queer Solidarities: New Activisms Erupting at the Intersection of Structural Precarity and Radical Misrecognition  203Michelle Fine, María Elena Torre, David M. Frost, and Allison L. CabanaPrecarity and Misrecognition: A Politics Rooted in Redistribution and Recognition  205Epistemological and Methodological Muddles  211Cumulative Misrecognition Incites Dispossession  214Disproportionality Along Key Vectors of Structural Precarity: Housing Insecurity, Bullying/Harassment, and Police Aggression  216From Discrimination to Activism  218But What About Health? The Curious Relationship of Discrimination, Activism, and Health Outcomes  221Intimate Activisms  223Reflections  227Funding  228Acknowledgments  228References  229Reflections  233Endnotes  237Index  243Permissions  253About the Authors  255