2
Since the classic studies carried out in the 1960s by Blau and Duncan (1967) and James
Coleman (1968), sociologists of stratification have made considerable strides in explaining the
complex processes that produce inequalities in educational access, achievement, and attainment
among different social groups. The strong emphasis on rigorous empiricism that has
characterized this tradition has made its findings relevant not only for academics, but also for
educational planners and government policymakers. However, in its preoccupation with
educational inputs and outputs, most stratification research has ignored a fundamental feature of
American education: the curriculum. By treating schools as black boxes that mass-produce
competitive candidates for the labor market, mainstream sociology of education has failed to
acknowledge the political, economic, and organizational factors that shape the curriculum toward
specific, and often problematic, objectives. To uncritically accept these objectives as legitimate
is to miss a crucial element of the power dynamics that contribute to the very inequalities that
concern stratification scholars. This paper will examine an alternative paradigm, the critical
theory of curriculum, and suggest ways of reconciling some of its claims with the mainstream
sociology of educational stratification.
Let us imagine a hypothetical, albeit somewhat exaggerated, scenario involving a high
school American history class. The material covered spans the first half of the 20
th
century and
features such archetypal heroes as Woodrow Wilson and Helen Keller (Loewen 1995: 19). The
teacher talks about the wonders of the American Dream, America’s valiant fight for freedom and
democracy during the two World Wars, and Wilson’s commitment to the creation of the League
of Nations. This lesson resonates with ideas covered in other classes: the courage of Columbus
in crossing the Atlantic, the wisdom of the Founding Fathers, the steady progress of science
thanks to great minds like Newton and Einstein, or even the beauty of a Beethoven piece
Convention