In The Need for Cultural Studies, the authors give details of how the rationale for cultural studies is political. Students are expected to have a certain cultural knowledge before graduating with book lists that are representative of a standard upheld by the dominant culture in the United States. The main goal of schooling in the United States, or any country for that matter, is to create citizens that will perpetuate the goals and ideologies of that nation. In a space where hegemony and hierarchy are ever-present, how can Cultural Studies be used to shape education to gain access to the resources and opportunities slated for the those fluent in the dominant culture, while helping students to challenge the ways in which they are marginalized by this structure?
My question is specific to the quote "Marx demonstrates how it is possible to think of the 'unity' of a social formation as constructed, not out of identity but out of difference" from Hall's Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms. While difference and identity are not synonymous, the concept of identity is usually related to the individual and their differences from the whole. Why would identity and difference be so juxtaposed in this context?
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