1. Liberty and Literacy Today: Contemporary Perspectives
Chapter Nine
Ch9

2. Literacy as a Social Construction
Past and present literacy rates affected by differences in class, race, gender, region, and social need
Less need and less expectation of widespread literacy in 18th and 19th centuries
Socioeconomic marginality of illiteracy a 20th-century phenomenon
Ch9

3. Hegemony Theory
Why, in the face of massive inequalities, does rebellion not occur in a democracy?
Hegemony theory posits that:
Institutional elites control U.S. political and economic institutions.
They share a common ideology that justifies their position.
Public is socialized into accepting these views through schooling, mass media, workplace.
Ideology serves to limit discussion/debate and promote acceptance of status quo.
Ch9

4. Mass Media and Cultural Hegemony
Corporate chains control significant numbers of newspapers and magazines; television, publishing and films
Concentration of ownership equals restriction of range of viewpoints
Media criticisms of American institutions stay within acceptable bounds
What will happen with computers and the Internet?
Ch9

5. Schooling and Cultural Hegemony
Hierarchical distribution of power in schools fosters compliance
Nature of students’ work promotes competition; failure is personal, not linked to a structure that needs winners and losers
Social stratification within the school culture encourages differences rather than commonalities
Capitalist democracy lauded; instillation of compliance in students encouraged
America’s social history selectively presented in textbooks
Ch9

6. Schooling and Cultural Hegemony
American society educates in contradictory ways
Taught that this is a democratic society
Daily experiences reinforce non-participation
The option of questioning this dichotomy is not presented
Citizens are prevented from participating in democratic processes
Ultimately, is this really a democracy if the populace cannot participate?
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7. Four Contemporary Perspectives on Literacy
Each expresses different understandings of schooling, political economy, and ideology.
Conventional literacy
Functional literacy
Cultural literacy
Critical literacy
Ch9

8. Conventional Literacy
1980 U.S. Census found 99.5% of adults literate – “the ability to read and write a simple message in any language”
Issues with these findings:
Were data collection methods appropriate?
What level of literacy is reflected in the data?
Could respondents read and write in English?
Conventional perspective useful to support claims of progress and to mask need for adult education programs
Ch9

9. Functional Literacy
“Functional literacy” first used by Army during WWII to mean literacy that would accommodate military demands
A literacy that measures ability to perform tasks requiring literacy skills or to “function effectively”
Social class and literacy acquisition go hand in hand; race and ethnicity matter
Limitations of functional literacy perspective
Seems to imply minimum competence as a goal
Tends to lay blame on the illiterate themselves, rather than social inequalities
Overemphasis on mechanical skills of reading and writing; less on understanding and critical thinking
Ch9

10. Cultural Literacy
E. D. Hirsch’s argument that literacy includes a basic knowledge foundation that gives meaning to what is read
“Intellectual baggage” that supports a familiarity with the events and ideas that have shaped American culture
Historical names and events, authors and works of literature, geographical places, phrases, scientific terms, etc.
Limitations of functional literacy perspective
“Trivial pursuit” approach?
Adds meaning, but falls short of advancing democratic understanding
Emphasizes recognition rather than critical thinking, and is very testable
Reinforces Eurocentric bias; overlooks global society
Ch9

11. Critical Literacy
Literacy may enable some parts of society to control others
Critical literacy draws attention to power relations in society by focusing on racial, ethnic, gender, and class oppression
Critical literacy attends to how knowledge and power are interrelated
Literacy is the capacity to think and act reflectively—to understand the world and act to change social relations of oppression
Ch9

12. Critical Literacy Method
Highlights connection between knowledge and power
Freire's pedagogy of “dialogue” and mutual learning
Reading and writing as tools to understand, express, and change social relations
Balancing criticism of the dominant culture and learning its “linguistic code”
Ch9

13. Usefulness/Drawbacks of Perspectives
Each of these supports a different educational aim
Conventional  evidence of success of U.S. educational system; obscures the way illiteracy is distributed
Functional  measurement of ability to function at minimum level in society; settles for minimal view of literacy
Cultural  familiarity with the traditional knowledge base of our culture; promotes passive absorption of random knowledge
Critical  emphasis on relationship between literacy and empowerment
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14. Concluding Remarks
The concept of literacy is embedded in social contexts and is relative to particular societies and their conditions
Education is no guarantee of freedom when participatory self-government is not fostered by schools and media
Critical literacy key to challenging this state of affairs
Ch9