The schooled society : the educational transformation of global culture / David P. Baker.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : a quiet revolution -- From education revolution to the schooled society -- Constructing culture : academic intelligence, social status, and human rights -- The incredible longevity of the Western university -- Mass education and the super research university -- Constructing reality : ice cream, women's studies, and the MBA -- The educational transformation of work -- Credentialing in the schooled society -- The transformation of knowledge and truth claims -- Failure, redemption, and the construction of the self -- An educated polity : the universal solvent and the political paradox -- An educated laity : the education-religion paradox -- Conclusion : the schooled society and beyond : ubiquitous, formidable, and noisy.

Only 150 years ago, the majority of the world's population was largely illiterate. Today, not only do most people over fifteen have basic reading and writing skills, but 20 percent of the population attends some form of higher education. What are the effects of such radical, large-scale change? David Baker argues that the education revolution has transformed our world into a schooled society-that is, a society that is actively created and defined by education.Drawing on neo-institutionalism, The Schooled Society shows how mass education interjects itself and its ideologies into culture at larg.