A Curriculum of Fear: Homeland Security in U.S. Public Schools

Carl Icahn sought deeper wage cuts from flights attendants than from other TWA employees because ‘‘[s]tewardesses are not breadwinners’’ (cited on p. 91). These efforts severely curtailed the types of domestic, social, and/or sexual relationships that were compatible with this occupation. Despite this setback, Murphy shows how flight attendants have continued to fight for economic justice, although their recent victories have been more limited in scope than their previous ones. For example, in the 1990s flight attendants played an active role in ensuring that large corporations, including the major airline carriers, offered domestic partner benefits to individuals in samesex relationships. Similarly, flight attendants played a role in a 2008 law that would prevent company managers from using mergers and acquisitions to strip workers of pay and benefits (p. 168). Murphy concludes by arguing that ‘‘social activists must move the needs of today’s flexible new families from the margin to the center of the bid for a fairer economy, just as they have in four decades of flight attendant activism’’ (p. 191). Furthermore, he suggests that the most promising means for doing so lies in building coalitions with other organizations concerned with economic justice. For example, Murphy notes that Delta’s Oakland customer service agents earn about 35 percent more than other Delta agents. However, this level of pay was not achieved through traditional collective bargaining processes; rather, it came about through a living wage ordinance that union leaders, working in partnership with ‘‘religious leaders, immigrant rights groups, and racial justice organizations,’’ were able to get passed (p. 190). If there is one weakness to Deregulating Desire, it is that it does not venture much beyond the airline industry. As such, Murphy does not say much regarding how the situation of flight attendants can inform activist efforts outside this industry. This does not mean that such insights are absent; rather, it is just that they have yet to be explored. The good news is that those who undertake this effort will be handsomely rewarded for their efforts. A Curriculum of Fear: Homeland Security in U.S. Public Schools, by Nicole Nguyen. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2016. 291 pp. $26.00 paper. ISBN: 9780816698288.