The Culture of Power

 

Definition

 

The "culture of power" (COP) is a system of societal norms and overt or subdued behavior that produces a class of individuals that maintain control and a degree of measured in success in the world in which we live. By design, this "culture" limits the advancement of those individuals who are not privy to this unspoken set of societal expectations, thus continuing a cycle of oppression in the process. In order to access the COP people must be first be made aware of its existence. From there the rules of the COP can be effectively communicated so that those without access gain the knowledge to work within the cultural norms.  This is tricky.  Can someone "outside" of the COP ever work effectively within COP?  As defined here (and I don't think that you are implying this necessarily), it's as easy as learning the COP rules and then playing the game, but I do think that it is much, much trickier than that.  I am reminded of Louis Althusser's theory of the ideological state apparatus or Michel Foucault's theory of discipline, both which give a much greater sense of impermeable power to the COP.  I'm not disagreeing with you here; I am just thinking . . . :)

 

 

History and Context

 

The culture of power is as old as the concept of social hierarchies and class. While there may be many writings on how the culture of power has affected society at large, finding any mention was challenging .  After Lisa Delpit's"The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating other people's children" the movement Is COP a movement?  Perhaps a response to COP is a movement, but COP itself is not really a movement.  gained a new momentum and new validity. Thanks to Delpit's writing about culturally relevant  pedagogy the dialogue has been started, and rising teachers seeking to be the best educators they can be address this issue.   Because this is an encyclopedia entry, the point of view should be third person objective.  Wikipedia calls this Neutral Point of View (NPoV).  When I first began to look for evidence for reforms in education, it was almost as though there were none, but to my surprise there has been an ongoing struggle to bring equality to our education system and not just here in the states but worldwide. The theory is that if we can better the education available to all students, then some of the ills we face as a society can be conquered. The culture of power can be a system of coded language and conduct that perpetuates and maintains the status quo of the current educational system which fails to prepare this country's disadvantaged youth for the future.  

 

     Larry Cuban is a Professor of Education at Stanford University. He teaches courses in the methods of teaching social studies, the history of school reform, curriculum, and instruction, and leadership. He has been faculty       sponsor of the Stanford/Schools Collaborative and Stanford's Teacher Education Program. The following is a brief history of school reform in America.   http://sustainability.terc.edu/index/page/406.html 

 

• "Should public schools in a democracy prepare students for what is or what should be? This question has been asked repeatedly by reformers since John Dewey’s “Pedagogic Creed” appeared in 1897." 

This an excerpt from a posting on Larry Cuban's blog  that summarises John Dewey's "Pedagogic Creed."  Here I find the beginnings of school reforms in America in the late 19th century. prior to Dewey I couldn't find any evidence of school reform.

 

• " John Dewey felt the glow of reform ebb after leaving his beloved Laboratory School at the University of Chicago. Prior efforts before World War I, in the 1930s and then in the 1960s, to move schools to be in the front lines of making a better society ran aground" (see 03-ERv33n5_Kantor-Lowe).  John Dewey may very well have been the originator of school reform in our country. He had very progressive views in his day and age pertaining to education                   

     

 

• "The Ann Arbor (or Black English) court decision in 1977 and the Ebonics episode in the Oakland (CA) school district in the early 1990s speak to the uphill road facing them in the second decade of the 21st century" (see PDF Critical_language_awareness). We tend to forget or not be aware of the strides and continual fight for education reform.  Most often progress made tends to be forgotten as just a minor footnote to the general public

 

 

Key Theorists

 

     Lisa Delpit is the foremost expert on the ideals of the “Culture of Power” (COP). Her contributions to this ideal are vital because she explicitly put the COP into the five tenets that are listed below (see the annotation for "The Silenced Dialogue" in the List of References at the end of this entry). Her use of authentic ethnographic research helps to solidify her position with real world examples. In the article, “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children” Delpit (1988) dissects the five tenets of the COP to educate individuals on the importance of acknowledging the existence and how to operate within the COP. Her work on the COP presents the framework for not only navigating the COP, but also equipping the youth to use the COP to their advantage. Delpit dissects the goals of middle income families with respect to their children are “To provide schooling for everyone’s children that reflects liberal, middle-class values and aspirations is to ensure the maintenance of the status-quo, to ensure that power, the culture of power, remains in the hands of those who already have it” (Delpit, 1988). While there have been several examinations of the relationship between culture and power, Lisa Delpit contributes to the COP in a way that uniquely outlines the tense relationship and solidifies the COP as an influential ideal that permeates throughout our society.

 

      When discussing the “culture of power”, another key theorist to mention is Maryann Dickar, the author of the article, “Hearing the Silenced Dialogue: an Examination of the Impact of Teacher Race on their Experiences” (Dickar, 2008). Although she doesn’t reference the culture of power verbatim, this article touches on several key points that reinforce Delpit’s position. In this article, she highlights discussions conducted at a public school she monitored during her study. Dickar’s work supports the COP because the study she conducted in dissecting the ideas behind a “silenced dialogue” (Delpit) greatly contribute to the COP argument as well. During this study Dickar states,

 

The dynamics that emerge when anyone breaks the silence about the significance of race and culture do more than widen the rifts between teachers across racial and cultural lines, however. The conversations that Black teachers are having with their students no doubt raise questions for them about their White colleagues. When they raise these issues in meetings and feel ignored, those suspicions are confirmed. These exchanges also leave lingering wounds that undermine professional relationships. (2008)

 

This passage serves to bridge the ideas of the culture of power with the ideas of the silenced dialogue. Dickar observes racial tensions and conflict that can ultimately perpetuate an environment in which those who have power exact it on those who do not, thus closing any conversations regarding those tensions in the process.

Local Examples

 

There are several educators in the Minneapolis Public School District that are not only exercising the COP, but to some degree exploiting it without even knowing it. During my observations I encountered a teacher who was negatively exploiting the COP. As unsettling as it can be, it would be useful to name, at minimum, the school here.  I questioned the teacher's contrasting pedagogical approaches between a 10th grade history core class of students and an AP language course respectively as seen here.  This is an effective use of something that you have already written.   I pondered why the power dynamic is radically different between the two courses, and through those differences the COP is shown between those who have access( the teacher and AP students) and those without (the 10 grade history class).   

 

You are missing a second example.

 

 

 External Links

 

In this passage educator and author Paul Kivel explains the COP in relation to sexism and the glass ceiling. He also explores some ways to combat and exist within the COP.

 

This blog entry from Linda ??? also offers different insights into the COP and Lisa Delpit's article " The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children."

 

The instructors at Warren Wilson College composed a comprehensive strategy to not only understanding the COP, but also tips on how to provide instruction in the classroom on COP 

 

Here is a discussion that begins with the appointment of a new school superintendent for Minneapolis Public Schools without the public input and the conversation evolves to teacher district responsibility to students

 

This site list the five aspects of power in the classroom  

 

( I wish to also turn these links into names)  White Privilege

 

Visual or Aural Media

 

This video was performed by my classmates while examining what high and low expectations looked like in the classroom. A further examination shows the effects on our ideas of expectations in relation to the COP. The two groups of students demonstrate low expectations with their body language, but they also show an unknown acceptance of the COP by showing the students as docile, even defeated and uninspired. As Delpit states, the COP can be "enacted in classrooms" (1988), and that is not more evident than in our silent portrayals of students in this video. There are intentional efforts made to show students in this fashion because that is what we saw as powerless students with no knowledge of the working COP that can inspire or oppress depending on the means of delivery and implementation of the COP.  

 

 

 

 

I entered this song, "You Must Learn," because it addresses the issue of CRP directly the lyrics are filled with straight forward facts with a view of African Americans that most people are not used to seeing lyrics that were design to empower, educate, and entertain not just black people, but anyone open to listen and learn. KRS 1 is by far one of the most socially, and spiritually conscious musicians  of our time. His music reflects the gritty street level struggle of inner city youth and combats all forms of oppression and corruption in our society he is the founder of what is known as the temple of hiphop in New York city and has been creating consistently quality conscious music for over twenty years and is a international superstar and one of my personal role models. His name means Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Every  . 

 

APA List of References and Annotations

 

Delpit, Lisa D. (1988). The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children. Harvard Educational Review 58:280–298.

 

 "Culture of Power" (COP) is a term that is expounded on by Lisa Delpit in the 1988 Harvard Educational Review article titled, "The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Teaching Other People's Children."   In this passage Delpit uses ethnographic research coupled with introspective analysis of the effects of the unwritten rules that govern the rights to access control and prominence in our culture, and more importantly how to recognize, exist, and potentially combat these notions. Delpit explicitly outlines five aspects of the COP which provides a more comprehensive understanding of what the COP is and how it is utilized. The five aspects are as follows: 

 

1) "Issues of power are enacted in classrooms.”

 The COP is exhibited from the type of books that are chosen for classrooms, from teacher to student, peer to peer, and even the current job market. The COP can often be intertwined with the institutional power that teachers or employers hold, whether are aware of it on not.  

 

2) “There are codes or rules for participating in power; that is, there is a “culture of power.”

In order to exist or maneuver in the power structure, certain language, mannerisms, and physical presence must be adopted in order to use that power, as opposed to having that power enacted on you. The rules become subdued as an individual gains more power. From gaining knowledge of the COP, on e can potentially learn how to maneuver, and even challenge it's structure.

 

3) “The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power.”

Being immersed and surrounded by the subtle and overt practices of those in the culture of power greatly increases your chance of gaining access and thus mastery of maneuvering within the culture. Those without fight an uphill battle with accessing the knowledge and tools necessary to wield the power. 

 

4) “If you are not already a participant of the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier.”

If someone is not familiar with the rules that govern certain norms within a culture, then they can only access that culture by being informed in detail what the rules are. Individuals who are aware of the COP can choose to embrace the task of educating those who are not aware, or perpetuate the COP by withholding the tools necessary to navigate the COP. 

 

5) “Those with power are frequently least aware of- or at least willing to acknowledge- its existence. Those with less power are often most aware of its existence.” (Delpit 1988)

When examining the COP, an important aspect to consider is the relationship between explicit and implicit  awareness. Those who have an explicit awareness of the COP generally are the people who do not have access to the COP like students who feel powerless in the classroom or the more recent "We are the 99%" movement. Conversely those who have exclusive access to the COP often times do not acknowledge their access, or choose to discredit the COP as a means for those who without power to create excuses for their inability to succeed or assimilate.     

 

Cuban, Larry.  (February  12, 2011)   "A Pedagogy of Culture and Power." Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice (blog).   

         

          Delpit & The Theater of the Oppressed. Uploaded by Ytsirkredyns (2011). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPhwZ21EImI

 

        Dewey, John.  (1897)  "My Pedagogic Creed."

 

          Dickar, M. (2008). “Hearing the Silenced Dialogue: an Examination of the Impact of Teacher Race on their Experiences”. Race Ethnicity and Education. Vol. 11, No. 2, July 2008, 115–132

 

  When discussing the “culture of power”, another key theorist to mention is Maryann Dickar, the author of the article, “Hearing the Silenced Dialogue: an Examination of the Impact of Teacher Race on their Experiences” (Dickar, 2008). Although she doesn’t reference the culture of power verbatim, this article touches on several key points that reinforce Delpit’s position. In this article, she highlights discussions conducted at a public school she monitored during her study. Dickar’s work supports the COPbecause the study she conducted in dissecting the ideas behind a “silenced dialogue” (Delpit) greatly contribute to the COP argument as well. 

 

          Johnson, D. (2011, October 1). Through the Looking Glass: Observation 1 [Web log post].Retrieved from http://djohnson82.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/through-the-looking-glass-observation-1/

  

        Kantor,H and Lowe,R.(2004) "Reflections on History and Quality Education ".  Educational Research

 

          Linda (2005, Spring). Linda's Blog [Web log post]Retrieved from http://blog.lib.umn.edu/gust0124/blog/018570.html

 

          Kivel, P. (2004). The Culture of Power. Conflict Management in Higher Education Report. 5-1. Retrieved from http://www.isr.umich.edu/home/diversity/resources/culture-of-power.pdf

 

           The Culture of Power and Explicit Instruction. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~education/Education_Policy_Project.php