Women, Class and Education

This is a book about some women of the working class. It is about particular and personal journeys; complicated lives lived within the shifting landscape of class, education and gendered identity over the last forty years. Making use of theory, reflection, narrativity and auto/biographical writing, Jane Thompson provides an accessible understanding of what learning means and what education can contribute to the struggles of working class women intent on changing the circumstances of their lives. The book is organised into three parts. In the first section, Thompson draws on autobiographical experience to root theoretical understanding in the authority of personal knowledge. In part two, she illustrates how theoretical analysis can inform arguments about women's changing relationships to class, community, consciousness and education. In the final part, she provides detailed examples of educational work she has been involved in with working class women. Women, Class and Education explores compelling personal narratives that underline the importance of feminism as a source of political inspiration, social analysis and change.