Shocks to the system : the politics of decision making in San Francisco public schools
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- I trace the history of two education policies in San Francisco that flared into public controversy during the onset of a major crisis. The first controversy, which transpired in the wake of the 1906 Earthquake, involved the San Francisco Board of Education's attempt to segregate Japanese students. The second was the drive for school construction during the Great Depression. School officials and other political actors resiliently pursued their agendas even when faced with the turmoil caused by the crises. Politics did not subside; in fact, politics gave meaning to chaos. Two generalizations help to explain this finding. First, political actors searched for opportunities in crisis. When crises radically altered the physical and material infrastructure of the school department, people seized whatever resources they could to achieve their goals. Second, crises forced political actors to adjust their rhetoric by adapting their language to fit the circumstances. Prior to the earthquake and depression, political actors attempted to sway the public in their favor by defining the core values involved in segregation and school construction. The crises generated a new set of values. Political actors adjusted their rhetoric by integrating new values into the old political discourse.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Dunson, Michael Leon |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Education. |
| Primary advisor | Labaree, David F, 1947- |
| Primary advisor | Williamson-Lott, Joy Ann, 1971- |
| Thesis advisor | Labaree, David F, 1947- |
| Thesis advisor | Williamson-Lott, Joy Ann, 1971- |
| Thesis advisor | Wineburg, Samuel S |
| Advisor | Wineburg, Samuel S |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Michael Leon Dunson. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the School of Education. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stanford University, 2010. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by Michael Leon Dunson
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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