A knowledge of the development of sociology of education in the historical sense is essential for an adequate understanding of many problems that presently confront the field of study, and such knowledge can serve as a basis for understanding the conc...
A knowledge of the development of sociology of education in the historical sense is essential for an adequate understanding of many problems that presently confront the field of study, and such knowledge can serve as a basis for understanding the concepts that have been developed within the discipline.
From this point of view, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate the historical trends of the development of American sociology of education and the current status of the discipline.
Conclusions in this thesis can be summarized as follows:
In America, research in the sociology of education had been implicitly guided by a few basic ideas growing out of the more general culture. Chief among these paradigms is Progressivism. The sociology of education, then known as educational sociology, developed and became academically institutionalized during the Progressive era. Founders of the discipline were people such as C.C. Peters, W.R. Smith, C.A. Ellwood, E.G. Payne, R.L. Finney, and D. Snedden. Through the Journal of Educational Sociology established in 1927, they argued for a scientific sociological study of schooling. The discipline competed with the more empirically established educational psychology for academic legitimacy. Gradually it took on the appearance of science and abandoned its explicit tone of social reform, changing its name to the academically more prestigious "sociology of education".
The founding of the journal, "Sociology of Education", in 1963 may be seen as an attempt both to integrate the subject with the larger concerns of sociology and to benefit from the growing prestige of the parent discipline. Nevertheless, the basic assumptions in the field during the past forty years have continued to reflect Progressive origins. Work in the sociology of education has centered on these three ideals: equality as meritocracy, bureaucracy for social efficiency, and faith in scientific knowledge.
But in the 1970s, conflict theorists have challen ged each of these ideals. They were people such as S. Bowles, R. Collins, and H. Gintis. In the 1970s, conflict theory extended its influence in sociology of education. The past functionalistic work was reexamined and the results of new work continued to appear. Conflict theorists have developed a view of education that constitutes a comprehensive alternative to both functionalism and methodological empiricism and that has made inroads into undergaduate curricula and doctoral programs in the economics and sociology of education.
Perhaps now, after the social turmoil of -the past decade, The discipline has changed and begun to reflect more than one side of the social and intellectual conflicts of the present times.