Pauline Lipman

Pauline Lipman’s work on the political economy of urban education and counterhegemonic resistance has expanded the field’s understanding of the relationship between economic systems and political institutions, particularly when it comes to compulsory schooling in the United States. However, her contributions to educational thought cannot be adequately understood without attending to Lipman’s dialectical, praxis-oriented involvement in educational justice movements. This involvement distinguishes her from educational thinkers whose overemphasis on theory has separated them from the very people and settings that they study. This chapter discusses the influential role of political movements on Lipman’s theoretical formulations, and focuses on four dimensions of Lipman’s contributions: (1) the relationship between the political economy and educational policy in the neoliberal era; (2) the racial politics that shape this relationship; (3) the implications that grassroots resistance against racist schooling policies have for a socially just vision of education; and (4) the role of academics in social justice movements. Together, these dimensions of Lipman’s work highlight the continued relevance of the dialectical thinking in the academy, both methodologically and for the academy’s engagement with social realities.