Abstract
What is behind and what is at stake in the “math wars?" In this chapter, we take a sociological step backward to consider the antagonists in this "war" and the sociocultural and historical contexts of their enmities. We explain what it means to claim that mathematics, particularly as taught in our schools, is a social construction, a social institution, and dependent upon social relations. This explanation is crucial to understanding the emergence of multicultural mathematics, ethnomathematics, alternative math, and radical math as valid alternatives to the study of traditional mathematics. It also gives a context for understanding the reactions these different perspectives have provoked within various factions of science education and mathematics education. We will demonstrate that this conflict has battlegrounds running all the way from the classroom to the Oval Office, and contradicts the goals of higher learning in our diverse society. In our conclusion we will explore the cultural significance of the math wars and pathways to resolution.
