"Outside of Norway, where this little book is regarded as a classic, Christie is primarily known for his work on crime, prisons and social deviance. His arguments here are similarly critical of mainstream sociological theory and political discourse. Christie knew and admired Ivan Illich whose book Deschooling Society retains a prominent place in the educational literature. But as Judith Suissa points out in her essay, Christie is not arguing against the existence of schools, but rather that we need to think carefully about why they exist, what purpose they serve, and who should have a voice in how they are constituted and run. The view of schools presented in Christie's short text has more in common with the American pragmatist John Dewey, who saw schools as "a genuine form of active community life, instead of a place set apart in which to learn lessons." While Christie's work remains an artifact of its place and time, his vision of a school as a expression of direct and local democratic will should interest students and scholars of de-schooling, unschooling, Dewian and progressive educational theory, and critical pedagogy"-- |