The New Conservative Coalition and Education: A Pragmatic Analysis of Gabbard's Knowledge and Power

Abstract

For most of the last thirty years, the United States government and culture has been under the ideological influence of what we call, for the purpose of this analysis, the New Conservative Coalition (NCC). As we’ve discussed elsewhere (Goodman, 2006), this coalition has been made up of many citizens who identify with one or more various groups or classes (e.g., business leaders, the technical intelligentsia, intellectuals at various conservative think tanks, fundamentalist Christians, and up until recently many among the working class - particularly in the South). These classes have been attracted to ideas emerging from what the authors in David Gabbard’s book call “neo-liberalism” and/or “neo-conservativism.” In light of the repudiation of this coalition in the 2008 U.S. national election, some might argue that Gabbard’s latest edition of Knowledge and power in the global economy: The effects of school reform in a neoliberal/neoconservative age (K&P) is out of date. We would disagree and encourage our colleagues to read this expanded edition of the original 2000 publication, especially in light of the 2010 election results.