Emergence of the Politics of Education Field: Making Sense of the Messy Center

The authors place the evolution of politics in education and the politics of education field in historical context and introduce a framework for understanding how three theoretical streams-micropolitics, political culture, and neoinstitutionalism-emerged as the behavioralist movement receded. They argue that although there may appear to be a messy center lacking a single disciplinary paradigm, the field has been advancing by means of integrative and aggregative drives that are, indeed, complementary as well as competitive and result in a healthy and productive state of the field.