J. Milton Yinger

We need scarcely note that the topic of this book is the stuff of headlines. Around the world, political, economic, educational, military, religious, and social relations of every variety have a racial or ethnic component. One cannot begin to understand the history or contemporary situation of the United States, the Soviet Union, China, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Great Britain, Lebanon, Mexico, Canada-indeed, almost any land-without careful attention to the influence of cultural and racial divisions. Preparation of this new edition has brought a strong sense of deja vu, with regard both to the persistence of old patterns of discrimination, even if in new guises, and also to the persistence of limited and constraining explanations. We have also found, however, rich new empirical studies, new theoretical perspectives, and greatly expanded activity and analyses from members of minority groups. Although this edition is an extensive revision, with reference both to the data used and the theoretical approaches examined, we have not shifted from our basically analytical perspective. We strongly support efforts to reduce discrimination and prejudice; but these can be successful only if we try to understand where we are and what forces are creating the existing situation. We hope to reduce the tendency to use declarations and condem­ nations of other persons' actions as substitutes for an investigation of their causes and consequences.

From Simon & Schuster, Countercultures is J. Milton Yinger's exploration of the promise and peril of a world turned upside down. Countercultures offers a new framework for analyzing tensions between the culturally established & the marginal, and discusses the emergence of countercultures in terms of ethical, epistemological, and aesthetic reversals of the status quo.

This 1977 book reports on an experimental program that was designed to discover whether a summer of intensive academic work and recreation on a college campus could significantly improve the educational performance of economically disadvantaged thirteen-year-old children. For three successive summers, sixty-five experimental participants and sixty-five control participants were selected randomly from schools in two large cities and three small cities. Experimental and control pairs were carefully matched. The results of this program were assessed in terms of six indicators: persistence in school, junior high school grades, senior high school grades, achievement test scores, assignment to a special school track, and attendance at academic or other special schools. On all six measures the performance of experimental pupils was judged superior to that of their matched control partners. The results of Middle Start indicate that even in the middle years of schooling, inner-city children can be helped significantly by skilful educational intervention.