School Commercialism: From Democratic Ideal to Market Commodity (Positions: Education, Politics, and Culture) [Hardcover]

Alex Molnar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0415951313 | ISBN-13: 978-0415951319 | Edition: 1

The leading US writer on the growth of commercialism in schools here provides an historical overview of how commercial activity in educational settings has grown into a massive global force. He traces the development of the situation today, in which children and teenagers are bombarded daily with often inappropriate marketing messages, while profit-making or corporate forces operate behind the scenes in all areas of education. Both the marketer's and the educationalist's perspectives are offered for evaluation, while Molnar steers a critical course between the two to provide broader insight into the distinction between commercial propaganda and democratic pedagogy.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Alex Molnar has been an acknowledged leader in helping us all understand what the dangers are in the rampant commercialization in schools today. School Commercialism demonstrates why his voice is listened to. It is a clear and powerful statement about who the winners and losers are in our seemingly never-ending willingness to commodify all of school life.

—Michael W. Apple is a John Bascom Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison

No one writes on school commercialism at the level of Alex Molnar. His data are global in scope, historical in sweep, and fully grounded in the leading theorists of the past and present. Molnar expertly details today's relentless attack on the guiding ideals of our public schools and their ongoing replacement by the amoral logic of the corporate marketplace.

—Paul Shaker is Dean of Education at Simon Fraser University of British Columbia.

As the leading U.S. expert on the commercialization of public education, Alex Molnar offers a concise study of how marketing and market logic increasingly shape school practice and policy. In this groundbreaking exploration, Molnar traces the rise of commercial activities in American schools over the last twenty-five years, raising serious questions about the role of private corporations in public schools. From the marketing of unhealthy foods to the expansion of the for-profit education management industry, School Commercialism tracks these disturbing trends and makes clear their detrimental effects on the historic mission of public education.

About the Author

Alex Molnar is the founder of the Commercialism in Education Research Unit, the only research unit in the world dedicated exclusively to school commercialism. An expert on market-oriented school reforms such as private school vouchers, for-profit schools, and charter schools, he is author of four books and professor and director of the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (June 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415951313
• ISBN-13: 978-0415951319
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,616,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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