BETWEEN NATIONALITY AND CLASS

In this article, Stanley Aronowitz argues that ''American'' ideology c ontains two elements. First, the United States is believed to confer. equality of opportunity on each citizen. Second, unlike other advanced industrial nations, the Limited States is considered nit ''open socie ty'' that allows and promotes social mobility. In this paradigms, raci al minorities and women have the same chances to escape the ranks of t he working poor as White men. Aronowitz uses a class-based analysis ne sted within ethnicity to expose the fallacy of this ideology. Since hi gher education is mast often pointed to as a source of social mobility , Aronowitz focuses his argument on the meritocratic norms that are re placing democratic norms within higher education, and on the devolutio n of educational opportunity for the poor, working class, and racial m inorities.