Michael Apple's Ideology and Curriculum is a foun-dational text in the new sociology of education and in curriculum studies more broadly. In particular, Apple's Ideology and Curriculum interrogates the connections between economic and social reproduction and everyday school life and curricular knowledge. Although considering a range of oppressions, Ideology and Curriculum focuses largely on the reproduction of economic inequality. In this regard, Apple's book was one of the earliest and most prominent examples of neo-Marxist curriculum theory in the United States, largely setting the stage for a generation of scholars interrogating the links between social reproduction and the curriculum.

Perhaps the most lasting and enduring contribution of Ideology and Curriculum has to do with the interrogation of curricular knowledge. As Apple made clear, curricular knowledge does ...