Alan R. Sadovnik

Ryan W. Coughlan

Leaders in the Sociology of Education: Intellectual Self-Portraits contains eighteen self-portraits written by some of the leading sociologists of education in the world. Representing the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong, the authors discuss a variety of factors that have affected their lifetime of scholarship, including their childhoods, their education and mentors, the state of the field during their “coming of age,” the institutions where they have worked, the major sociologists during their lifetimes, the political and economic conditions during their lifetimes, and the social and political movements during their lifetimes. These autobiographical essays reveal a great deal not only about their work and their influences, but also about themselves. Taken as a whole, the book provides sociology of knowledge about the creation of sociology of education research since the 1960s. It reveals a number of important themes central to all of the authors’ work, including educational inequality; the influence of the classical sociological theorists, Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim; and the influence of more recent classical sociologists of education, Basil Bernstein, Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman. The authors’ research represents a variety of theoretical and methodological orientations including functionalism, conflict and critical theory, interactionist theory and feminist theory, as well as quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods research. Finally, the editors discuss a number of lessons to be learned from the lives and works of these sociologists of education.

Intellectual Self-Portraits

Leaders in the Sociology of Education

Compensatory higher education programs developed as part of the liberal educational reforms of the 1960s and 1970s. Their goal was to compensate for unequal pre-college education and provide equal opportunities for economically and educationally disadvantaged students. This book provides a sociological and historical analysis of the rise and fall of one educational opportunity program that began as an off-campus branch of a state college in the late 1960s, moved to the main campus in the late 1970s, and was eliminated in 1983. The analysis relates to the larger policy questions in higher education, with special reference to issues of equity and excellence.

The Decline of a Liberal Educational Reform

Equity and Excellence in Higher Education

Examines the various topics in sociology and education while exposing students to examples of sociological research on schools. This title intends to stimulate student thinking about the important roles that schools play in contemporary society and their ability to solve fundamental social, economic and political problems.

A Critical Reader

Sociology of Education

David Levinson

David M. Levinson

Peter W. Cookson

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

An Encyclopedia

Education and Sociology

Parlo Singh

Susan F. Semel

For over four decades, Basil Bernstein researched the internal organisation and educational context of the school' specifically, and educational systems generally. In particular, he was interested in the powerful forms of knowledge transmitted through schooling systems; who gained access to these forms of knowledge; how they did so; and with what consequences. His research began by examining the differences between language and communication patterns in the institutions of the home/family and of the school, and extended to examining the structuring of pedagogic discourse from the level of the state to the classroom. This collection brings together chapters by researchers from South Africa, Portugal, the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia, to build on the theoretical concepts developed by Bernstein to explore issues of access and acquisition to school knowledge. In addition, contributors explore the strengths and limitations of Bernstein's work for understanding the structuring of educational institutions, as well as the potential of the theory for assisting educators to make a difference in the lives of students.

Essays on Basil Bernstein's Sociology of Knowledge

Toolkits, Translation Devices and Conceptual Accounts

Kathryn M. Borman

Jennifer A. O'Day

George W. Bohrnstedt

This monumental collection presents the first-ever sociological analysis of the No Child Left Behind Act and its effects on children, teachers, parents, and schools. More importantly, these leading sociologists consider whether NLCB can or will accomplish its major goal: to eliminate the achievement gap by 2014. Based on theoretical and empirical research, the essays examine the history of federal educational policy and place NCLB in a larger sociological and historical context. Taking up a number of policy areas affected by the law—including accountability and assessment, curriculum and instruction, teacher quality, parental involvement, school choice and urban education—this book examines the effects of NCLB on different groups of students and schools and the ways in which school organization and structure affect achievement. No Child Left Behind concludes with a discussion of the important contributions of sociological research and sociological analysis integral to understanding the limits and possibilities of the law to reduce the achievement gap.

Alan R. Sadovnik

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