Against Schooling: For an Education That Matters
March 2008, Paradigm Publishers, ISBN 1594515026.

“To say that Stanley Aronowitz is a national treasure is an understatement. Against Schooling is vintage Aronowitz. At a time when worker and labor education is facing hard times, when political and public intellectuals have been relegated to the sidelines of the public sphere, when university faculty councils and senates have been transformed into advisory bodies for the administrators who control them, when intellectual labor has become trapped within a hierarchical system of its own making (what Aronowitz calls a new phase of subalternity), when the shared values of the academic community no longer include the pursuit of democratic governance, when basic and applied research in the sciences at leading research universities have become dependent upon partnerships with large pharmaceutical, chemical, and electronic corporations, and when we have lost much of our historical memory, critical education is ever more necessary. Against Schooling makes a brilliant and impassioned argument for the necessity of creating new knowledges and social and cultural practices that do not repeat the privileging hierarchies of previous generations but enable individuals to become global as well as national citizens who refuse to accept the current regime of educational degradation. Aronowitz's call for a protagonistic effort to bring teachers in higher education together with elementary and secondary school faculty in a common fight is one that we must take seriously if we want to save not only our schools but the very fabric of our social universe.”
—Peter McLaren, University of California, Los Angeles

In Against Schooling, Stanley Aronowitz passionately raises an alarm about the current state of education in our country. Discipline and control over students, Aronowitz argues, are now the primary criteria of success, and genuine learning is sacrificed to a new educational militarism. In an age where school districts have imposed testing, teachers must teach to test, and both teacher and student are robbed of their autonomy and creativity. The crisis extends to higher education, where all but a few elite institutions are becoming increasingly narrowly focused and vocational in their teaching. With education lacking opportunity for self-reflection on broad social and historical dynamics, Against Schooling asks “How will society be able to solve its most pressing problems?” Aronowitz proposes innovative approaches to get schools back on track.
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Sample Book Chapter

Toward a New Social Theory of Science
[from Science as Power, Chapter 12, pdf]

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Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future
December 2006, Paradigm Publishers, ISBN 1594513112.

Building a new platform for change, prominent social critic Stanley Aronowitz diagnoses Americas crisis of democracy and the dangers of the new authoritarianism. Aronowitz draws on his vast knowledge of history and political theory and from currents of political change around the globe, from the traditions of the European left to the newest political trends in Latin America that have challenged the death of socialism.

Demonstrating why Democrats lose when they cling to centrism and compromise their core values, this book shows us what a new left party in America would look like in an era of globalization, terrorism, and a crisis of public confidence in government.
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Just Around the Corner: The Paradox of the Jobless Recovery
March 2005, Temple University Press, ISBN 1592131387.

“Stanley Aronowitz is the most important scholar on the past and present U.S. working class. From his classic False Promises to this courageous and timely book, he has put forward the most profound analysis and challenging vision of deep democracy here and abroad.”
—Cornel West, Princeton University

“Just Around the Corner is a highly readable and thought-provoking examination of the structural joblessness that is affecting wide segments of the population.”
— William Julius Wilson, Harvard University

Americans have always believed that economic growth leads to job growth. In this groundbreaking analysis, Stanley Aronowitz argues that this is no longer true. Just Around the Corner examines the state of the American economy as planned by Democrats and Republicans over the last thirty years. Aronowitz finds that economic growth has become “delinked” from job creation, and that unemployment and underemployment are a permanent condition of our economy. He traces the historical roots of this state of affairs and sees under the surface of booms and busts a continuum of economic austerity that creates financial windfalls for the rich at the expense of most Americans. Aronowitz also explores the cultural and political processes by which we have come to describe and accept economics in the United States. He concludes by presenting a concrete plan of action that would guarantee employment and living wages for all Americans.
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How Class Works: Power and Social Movement
August 2004, Yale University Press, ISBN 0300105045.

“With How Class Works Aronowitz puts the subject of social class squarely on the intellectual agenda—though in a new, inclusive, and dynamic form. Like his influential False Promises, How Class Works is both intellectually exciting and morally challenging.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich

Although Americans like to believe that they live in a classless society, Stanley Aronowitz demonstrates that class remains a potent force. Defining class as the power of social groups to make a difference, he explains that social groups such as labor movements, environmental activists, and feminists become classes when they make demands that change the course of history.
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