Mediated inequality : the role of governmental, business, and scientific elites in public education

This study presents an historical sociological analysis of public education policy in three periods of United States history to show that patterns of educational inequality persist despite the expansion of mass public schooling and the recurrence of reform. It investigates the South, the last region of the United States to institutionalize public education. The specific focus of this study is North Carolina. This research explains how governmental, business, and scientific elites negotiate education settlements that help generate different race, class, gender, and regional outcomes.