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Ch a p t e r TheSociological Analysisof Education IxrnooucrroN Education is a vital part of our social existence.Whether it occurs in formal settings rrr irr lessformal ways,education helps to shapeour personalitiesas well as our life choices and chances.In many respects,all human experiencesare educative.\\re .ontinually engagein processesof self-development,modif ing and recreatingthe rr'orld through our everydayactivities.Both structured and unstructured forms of ..ducation are taking on greater significancein Canada and throughout the world r''ithin what is commonly called the information society or knowledge economy in r''hich knowledge and learning occupy centre stagein social relationshipsand economic activities. The central role education plays in our changing societieschallengesus to investigatethe implications of educationaltransformation, including an Lrnderstandingof how and why education systemshave taken their present shape. This chapter introduces severalof the main themespertinent to a critical examination of education.Its aim is to guide the development of a distinctly sociological understanding,but this is alsoaugmentedwith insightsderivedfrom a variety of aca.lemic disciplinesand interdisciplinary perspectives.Following a brief introduction to the discipline of sociologyand the core questionsand frameworks associatedwith sociologicalunderstandings,the chapter identifies four critical approachesto the .rnalysisof education-critical pedagogy,feminist pedagogy,anti-racism education, .ind political economy-that inform the analysisemployed throughout the book. THE SocrorocrcAL UNonnsrANDrNG oF EDUCATIoNAL PRoBLEMS L-suallywhen we think of education,we identifr it with formal institutions-schools, colleges,universities,and other structured institutiond ffea-ming processes. Vieu'ed in these concreteterms, education tends to be associatedwith teachers,texts. and tests;knowledge,skills,and values;credentials,opportunities, and rewards;and poli*', budget, and public representation.Consider the following questions: 'j How and why has formal schooling come to be associatedwith education? '' Why are children and youth expectedto attend schoolsfor at least 10 r'earsand often much longer? ' Why do some people fail or drop out of school while others achieveslrc.c.. through post-secondaryeducation? ' Why do most schoolclassroomshavea readilyidentifiablecharactc'rth.rr .:., tinguishesthem from other socialsettings? THE Socrolocy or EpucnrroN rN C,q.Naoe bo:' Which social groups arenservedby educational institutions, and with what ' outcomes? How does teaching compare with other types of work? Why is Canadian education financed mostly by governments,and primarily by local, provincial, and territorial governments? What do people rery learn at school, and how important is it for jobs and life outside of school? What impact do social,economic, and technologicalchangeshave on educational processesand achievementlevels? .' Who decideswhat is in the curriculum and how is the curriculum translated into educationalpractice? a . t a t Each of these questions can be answeredin many different ways. Canadians hold diverseopinions about many of them, as expressedin the high degreeof controversysurrounding contemporary educationalissues.Some answersinvolve historical facts or information that can be gathered through simple observation. Responsesto other questions require more detailed data collected statistically, through interviews,or by other methodologies.Nearly all questionsare subject to competing interpretations. Sociology is a discipline or field of inquiry that provides particular frameworks through which we can make senseof questionslike those outlined aboveaswell as of the diverseresponsesthat they generate.Sociologistsare interestedin education becauseit is so central to human socialexperience,to our direct and indirect relations with other people. Education, in its various guises, conveys important insights about particular kinds of societiesand the people within them. The analysis of educational structures,practices,and outcomes can help us to understand, for example,what kinds of values,beliefs,and ideologiesprevail in a given society, how people come to learn about and become organizedwithin particular social structures,and how open and democratic that societyis. The purpose of this book is to analyze Canadian educational practices,struc,{ tures, and problems from a critical sociological framework. In many cases,international examples are employed to highlight the broader context within which 1,.; Canadian education is situated.Emphasisis on formal.edgcation or schooling, as opposed to other types of education,since it is in its institutional forms that education has become most highly integrated into wider social,economic, and political organization. It also explores the changing boundaries between educational institutions and other learning sites.Referenceis made to a variety of sociological studies and perspectivesdeveloped within and beyond Canada to provide the reader with a senseof how distinct researchtraditions have been employed to understand schooling. The book adopts a critical orientation, which revealshow education in Canada has been from the outset a complex, contested,and contradictory endeavour.The book is not intended as a manual or an exhaustivehistory that detailsall aspectsof our education systems.Instead,it employs analyticaltools Tne SocroLocIcAL ANnrysts or Eouclrror Box1.1 Sociological Interest in the GrowthandSocialSignificance of Education The growingsignificance of educationfor Canadians is illustratedin Figure1.l, below,which demonstrates how, over the past half-centurpthe shareof the populationwith universitydegrees hasovertakenthat portion of the population with lessthan a Grade9 education.Sociologists haveofferednumerousinterpretationsof this educationalgrowth,and havealsoexaminedits significance for societyasa wholeand for differentsubgroupswithin the population. Figure1.1 Proportions Population, of Canadian 15Yearsand0ver, with University Degrees andLessThanGrade9 Education degree W llniuersity Less thanGrade 9 ! Sources: Data from Guppy and Davies (1998: l9); Statistics Canada, Census of Canadq various years; and cANStMTable 2820004. This is an updated version based on a figure in Clarke (2000: 7). derived from sociology and related disciplines in an effort to answer questions about why education has developedas it has and how educationalissuesare interconnected with fundamental characteristicsof social organization and social life. The remainder of this chapter examinesthe issuesand approachescentral to sociological analysis.The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of how these insights can be applied to educational questions in such a way as to provide a framework for the chapters to follow. THr Socror,ocy or EnucarroN rN Celreon Socrorocy AND Irs RETATToN To OrsER DrscrpLrNES Sociologyis the investigationof the relationshipsbetweenindividuals and society. It examines how social structures (relatively enduring patterns of social organization) and social practices (ongoing social activity) both shape and are shapedby human beings. It is a scientific discipline in thc scnsc that it is bascd on rcscarch and theories that attemptG a systematicand organized manner, to describeand explain important featuresof social reality. Sociologistsanalyzesuch institutions as schools, families, economic and political organizations, religion, the mass media, and the criminal justice system,as well as interpersonal relations, small groups, informal social practices,and much broader and sometimes less visible social forces,such as power and control. In its scope and methods, sociology overlapswith and draws on severalother disciplines and fields of inquiry. Sociology-or particular subfields of the discipline-can sharemuch in common with such other social sciencesas economics, political science,psychology, and anthropology, as well as with studies in the humanities such as history and philosophy,and with interdisciplinary approaches in such areasas Native studies,women's studies,environmental studies,cultural studies,and regional studies.Some sociologicalwork is influenced by and influencesother fields of inquiry, including geography,biology, medicine, demography, policy studies,and administrativestudies. Despite its complementaritv rvith various academic disciplines, sociology developed from the vision of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century intellectuals, I who wanted to construct a distinct scienceof societymodelled after physics,biolI ogy, and other natural sciences.In common with closelyrelatedsocialscienceslike psychologyand economics,many of the tools that sociologistsemploy to examine the socialworld involve principles of researchmethodology and theory construction shared with scientistswho study the natural world. However, the studies of the social and natural worlds differ in crucial ways. Social reality, complex and dynamic in nature, is not governed strictly by law-like regularities and it is not readily amenableto definitive statementsabout causeand effectthat are the objective of much scientific inquiry. Socialstructuresand practicesare constantlybeing reshapedand reinterpreted by human activity. Moreover, the sociologicalinvestigator, as part of the social world being studied, may have an impact on social actions and how they are understood. Social researchinvolves an ethical dimension that raises questions about what kinds of research activities are socially acceptableand what their consequencesare for social life. These problems are sharedby other sciences,sinceall scientific activity involvesto some extent human interpretation, phenomena that are subject to change,and ethical questions,but they are much more evident within or central to sociology and other human sciencesthan in the scientific investigationof non-social phenomena. With this wide arcayof influences, it might seem unusual that a discipline like sociologyshould exist,sincemost questionslike the oneslisted earlier can be investigated through one or more of the other disciplines.TWo somewhat opposing T H E S o c r o r , o c r c A LA x e r v s r s o r E o u c e r t o N points can be made in responseto this concern. First, it is true that boundaries between disciplinesare somewhat flexible, so that it may seem that the only clear distinction between areasis evident in the field by which people identify themselves(e.g.,psychologists,educationaladministrators,and sociologistsmay all use similar methods to conduct researchinto the question of why some studentsdrop out of school). The secondpoint, however,involvesthe recognition that each discipline is constituted around core questions and approachesthat can clearly be distinguishedfrom one another.In the examplenoted above,the psychologistmay be most interestedin identifying the personality characteristicsof school dropouts in comparison with students who stay in school; the researcherin educational administration may be most concernedwith identif ing ways to keep students in school longer; and the sociologist may be most interested in determining how characteristicsof school organization contribute to the dropout phenomenon. The distinguishing characteristicsof sociology are discussedbelow. TnE Nnrunn oF SocroLocICAL INeuIRy Sociology,like most social sciences,emerged relatively recently compared to the humanities and physical sciences.A prolonged period of social, economic, and political upheavalin Europe,particularly during and after the mid-eighteenth century, fostered an interest in sustainedinquiry into the nature of society and its relationship to the individual. The rapid advancement of the Industrial Revolution, combined with new social and political arrangements,led to serious questioning about the nature and consequencesof social change. People'slife experienceswere altered amid challengesto existing social conventions and institutions. Among the transformations was a growing emphasison democracy and individual rights as opposedto more traditional, hierarchicalbasesof socialorder. Out of these circumstancesemergedboth intellectual and pragmatic concernsto the impact of the understand the conditions that produced socialchange,to assess changestaking place, and to consider the possibilities and prospects for future social transformation.'Sociology',a term first used by the French writer Auguste Comte in the nineteenth century to signifu the need for a scientific study of society, was developedin order to study theseissuesby examining the relative impact of social stability and social changeon people'slives. Although the thematic focus and methodological substanceof sociology have taken on different forms since Comte's time, many of the issuesthat concerned early sociologistsremain at the core of the discipline. Sociologyis both a scientific discipline and a moral or human undertaking in which theoretical analysisand empirical researchare applied to an understanding of important social problems and issuesin order to enhancethe world in which we live. The contemporary significanceof this historical vision for the discipline has been articulated in the rvork of recent sociologists.Patricia Hill Collins (2007: II2), for instance,stressesthe continuing inspiration offeredthrough the works of such classicalsocialtheori:t: as Karl Marx, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, Emile Durkheim, \\r.E.B. L)ul.'rri:..rir,.: TnE SocroLocy or EoucerroN rN Ceueoa others whom she characterizesas public sociologistsoffering a'commitment to bring the tools of sociologyto bear on the irnportant issuesof their time.. .. So much of what they did was on behalf of bettering the public.'Similarly,SteveFuller (2006: 1) contends that,'The central aspiration of sociology-and the social sciences more generally-has been to make good on the eighteenth-century Enlightenment promise of creating a "heaven on earth" [with an aim] to createa world in which humans exercisedominion over nature without exercisingdominion over each other.' As a discipline concerned to understand and build upon relations between individuals and society,sociology has been guided by severalfundamental questions and debates,including the following: 1. At which level-individual or social-should analysisbegin? 2. To what extent are individuals the products or the producers of socialstructures? 3. Is sociallife characterizedmore by socialstability and consensusor by social conflict? 4. How do we study the social world, and to what ends?Should the study of society be guided by a searchfor observablefacts and laws (positivism) or by human interpretations of the world? Individual versusSociety All sociologicalanalysisis concerned at some level r,vithrelations among individuals and societies.Sociologistsdo not study individuals in isolation from one another, but focus instead on how people interact with each other either directly (at a face-to-facelevel) or indiieit-lf (through internalized rules and expectations, the products of human activity, consciousnessof others,and institutionalized patterns of behaviour). Different forms of sociologicalanalysisemergearound questions about which factor or set of factors is regardedas most important. The debate concerning the relations between individuals and society can be illustrated with referenceto two key sociologicaltheorists, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber,whose works were instrumental in establishingsociology as a viable academicdiscipline in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Durkheim defined sociology as the study of 'social facts',referring to featuresof society (such as ratesof marriage or death, religion, law, and economic systems)that existedin their own right and had an influence on individuals'thoughts and actions.Society, in theseterms, can be studied as if it is a real thing becauseit is presentbefore we ,rrr.born and after we die, and it affects the lives and character of each human ircinS.\\'eber,by contrast,defined sociologyas the'interpretive understandingof .,,-i.t1.rction',bi' which he meant that the discipline should emphasizehow people's - . .,. .lcii'ions and behavioursare guided by interpretationor meaning.Unlike . .-: "r :::. \\'cber argued that society has no independentexistenceoutside of .' -. ::.,,..{ht:.nroti ves,and acti ons(al thoughhuman act ionsand cr eat ions THE SocrolocrcAL ANlrvsts or Eoucarlox have a powerful impact on our choices and actions). Posed in simpler ternrs, Durkheim represents a version of sociology in which the study of relations between individuals and societybegins with society,while Weber'sanalysisbegins with individuals and proceedsfrom there to study social relations.Contemporarv sociologistscontinue to look to these starting points, or some intermediate position, as the basisfor analyses. "/"'J ov l''2;i Human Agency versus structural 't^'i:" Determination An important question that accompaniesthe investigation of how individuals are interrelated with society concerns the role that free choice plays in our lives. Although we tend to think of ourselvesas unique individuals, we must also recognize that our thoughts, personalities,and actions are heavily influenced by our social background and surroundings. Sociologistsdo not alwaysagreeabout the extent to which individuals are shaped by social factors, and vice versa.One view, that of human agency,assertsthat human beings are active'agents'whosebehaviour and thougtits-mike society possible. People are seen to be relatively free to make senseof the world in such a way as to make decisions that guide their lives and conduct. The world, according to this approach,is socially constructed-our language,cultures,and institutions are created,maintained, and changedthrough human activity. A contrasting, structuralist, view emphasizesthat people are social products. Social structures, or-relatively enduring patterns within society and social life, give rise to orir personalitiesand thoughts, to the choiceswe face,and to the courseswe take in our lives.When we are born, existing socialstructuresdetermine limitations and opportunities dependent on such factors as gender,race, the wealth and status of our parents, and so on. Our freedom, in other words, tends to be highly constrainedby social rules and expectations. Most sociologistsand other social thinkers take a position somewhere between the two extremesof individual agenry and structural determination. As Karl Marx (1963 15) observed,people'maketheir own history,but they do not make it just as they please;they do not make it under circumstanceschosen by themselves,but under circumstancesdirectly encountered,given and transmitted from the past.'A more contemporary sociologist,Anthony Giddens (1987: 11), has expressedthe samepoint through what he calls'the "double involvement" of individuals and institutions', in which'we createsociety at the sametime aswe are createdby it.'In other words, whatever their starting points, most sociologistsagreethat society is something more than a collection of individuals such that it must be studied with sensitivity to the reciprocal impact of human beings and social structures on each other. Stability versusConflict As noted earlier,sociology emergedthrough systematicefforts to understand significant social changesoccurring in conjunction with the Industrial Revolution and socialupheaval.Some early socialcommentators fearedthat the chanqesu'.'rc THr Soclot-ocy or EpucnrroN rN CeNaoe destructiveof a social order that could never be retrieved while others welcomed the changesas a mark of progressand hope for the future. Thesedual concerns,of a searchfor socialstability and a desirefor socialchangeand improvement, remain central to the discipline. Sociologistscontinue to addresstheseissuesfrom different stances.Some sociologists, following the tradition of Auguste Comte, have attempted to uncover laws governing social order and conditions for social change.Their assumption is that stable social order, supported by consensusabout fundamental values,is the normal state of a society.The development of sociology as a science,in these terms, is to identify factors that foster socialharmony as opposedto those that are sociallyharmful or destructive.Excessiveconflict and social changethat proceeds too rapidly are deemedto threaten the long-term survival of a society.A contrasting approach to social analysisdepicts conflict and struggle as normal featuresof societies.Societies,particularly if they are relatively complex in nature, are likely to contain a diversity of different collectivitiesand subgroups,each with specific needs and interests.Although overt conflict is not always present or apparent, social changeis driven by the demands and actions of social groups to have their interestsrepresentedand their needsmet. The task of sociology,in this view, is to identify and analyzethe social circumstancesthat give rise to each set of interests. PositivismversusInterpretativeAnalysis There are different ways of looking at the world as well as of determining what should be looked at. The task of social science,for some sociologists,is to replicate,as much as possible,the rigorous approachesassociatedwith physics,chemistry, and other scientific disciplines.The goal of science,unders_toodthis way,ls to formulate laws and statementsabout regular patterns of causeand effect in the "silcial world, and to specifothe conditions under which thesecausalrelations will occur.This approach,known aspositivism, emphasizesthat sciencemust concern itself with phenomena that can be readily identified and measured.Like many scientistswho study the natural world, thesesociologistsassumethat the socialworld has a definite structure of reality that can be observed,classified,and controlled as we gain objectiveknowledge about each of its parts. Other sociologists,by contrast, contend that positivism's claims to uncover objective knowledge about laws that regulatesociety are false.They argue that all human knowledge, including scientific observation, is based on particular interpretations of reality. Social realit5 moreover, is continually being shaped and reshapedbecauseit is based on human actions. For interpretative sociologists, therefore,the proper task of scienceis to identifz the social basesand meanings attachedto particular phenomena,and to explore how those meanings are related to people'ssocialactions.This assessment, expressedin its most radical form within some postmodernist orientations, suggeststhat any scientific quest for universal truths or general laws is necessarilymisguided becauseit does not take into accoLrntthe diversemeaningsand viewpointsthat are characteristicof human life. T r r E S o c r o L o c r c A LA N e r y s r s o r E o u c e r r o x ' )ther interpretativesociologydoes not reiect the possibilityof science,but cau:.()ns that we must be aware of the limitations 4ssociatedwith scienceand th.' -iaims or authority that it carrieswith it. SocroroclcAL PnnspncrrvEs .,''ciologists,likeanyoneelsewho investigates nature or society,must make decisions .,iroutwhat they study and how they study it. They require guidelinesto help them :,';nr their observationsand make senseof what they see.In their most general rr)rrrr,theseguidelinesare provided in the form of what are calledsociologicalper.:''cctives,or ways of looking at the socialworld. Perspectivespoint to what is impor:.rnt,basedon particular assumptionsabout socialreality and how to study it. Sociology,it should be emphasized,is not unique in offering perspectivesto its ''r.rctitioners.All sciencesrely on specific assumptionsthat lead to different ways 'i conducting scientific investigation. In medical research,for example, some ::\earchersemphasizethe factors that causea certain disorder so that appropriate -,rres or remediescan be prescribed,while others adopt a more holistic orientai:rrn that examineshealth in the context of a wide range of environmental condii.rrr15,which themselvesmust be modified before effectivehealing can take place. . :r phy5igs,the study of quantifiable characteristicsof matter is contrastedwith the ,:r.ilvsisof unobservable,changing forces.In all disciplines,perspectivesidentifl' ,..lvsto addressthesekinds of issuesin a systematicmanner. It should be emphasizedthat sociologistssharesome common goalsregardless :'the perspectivesthey adopt. All theory is an attempt to enhanceour ability to ..rderstand aspectsof the social and natural worlds, and all researchis conducted ,. part of an effort to provide us with information that tells us something about ..hat those worlds are like. Scientific inquiry is unified by a searchfor knowledge i:rd understanding,even though there are differencesover how that searchshould 'e conducted,what the ultimate aim of that searchshould be, and what should be -rirng*i,h the information generated. Sociologicalperspectivesare aligned around questions governed by debates ,itlined in the preceding sections.Although there are different ways of labelling ::rd organizing them, it is generallyagreedthat the discipline has been shapedbv --rcr?l sociologicalperspectives, in particular three identified here as structural ' ..rrctionalism,interpretative sociology,and critical orientations. \ t ructural Functionalism r::r-rcturalfunctionalist analysisexaminessocialinstitutions and other elementsof . ';ietv in relation to the social system as a whole. It is sometimes knorvn as thc' :Jc'r perspectivebecauseit is concerned with factors that ensure the mainte.:nceof social stability.As the name suggests,structural functionalism exanr:r.\ phenomenaby aski ngquesti onsabout w hat functi ons thev ser r '. xnsl lt , ir ' r c r . c o n t r i b u t et o t h e o r d e r l y o p e r a t i o no f t h e s o c i a ls y s t e m F . o r r n a le d u c . r t : r ' : t ' : e\ampl e, servesthe soci alorder by transmi tti ng vi tal knon'ledge. r nr i . r , . . . : . TnE Soclolocy or EoucarroN rN Ceueol aptitudes to successivegenerationsand by sorting and selectingpeople for entrl into roles or positions required by the social system. Structurai functionalist analysis commonly employs an organic analogy in which societiesare compared to living organisms.Each part of the social system like each feature of the organism, has specific roles to play to keep the organism alive and functioning properly. Some functions are more crucial than others to the unit's overall health and existence,but with increasingspecialization,as the unit becomesmore complex in nature, the system'ssurvival requires each element to be integrated with the others in a unified way. Sociologicalanalysis,as with the analysisof organic structures,proceedsto describetheseinterrelationshipsand to identifr the conditions required for socialstability.The long-term survival of society, accordingto this analysis,requiresthat elements(whether individuals or institutional processes)that do not fit with the whole, or are not functioning properly must be eliminated or modified, analogousto the Western medical treatment of a diseasedbody. Although the perspectiveis highly abstractthrough its concernwith generalfea tures of social systems,researchconductedby structural functionaliststends to be positivistic in nature. It seeksto outline regular relationshipsamong phenomena through measurement of specific social dimensions, such as degreesof socio economic inequaliry,pupil dropout rates,or racial categorrzations.In their assump tions that the social world has a definite, observablestructure that can be made known through scientificinvestigation,structural functionalists often attempt to give sociology the statusof a more establishednatural sciencelike physicsor biology. Structural functionalism was highly influential in the development of North American socioiogicaltheory and researchthroughout much of the twentieth century. Its major contributions have been to demonstratethe impact of social structures on social groups and individuals and to point out how various components of societiesare interrelated.Nonetheless,the limitations of structural functionalism are evident in a critical examination of many of its central assumptionsand procedures. A first major criticism is most apparent to sociologistswho adopt an interpretative orientation to socialanalysis.Structural functionalism, in its concern to'map out' the social systemand its constituent structures,ignores much of the richnes of everydaylife. It is frequently open to the charge that it portrays society in such a mechanisticway that it has no place for the activitiesand realitiesof living humar beings,who in fact are the producers (or agents)of societyand social change. Critical sociologistshave pointed to a second main limitation of structura functionalism: its emphasison social order and consensustends to undermine or draw attention away from strugglesor tensions that operatewithin society.Manr conflicts are more than merely transitional in nature; indeed, significant socia divisions may be built into the structure of a given society.Therefore,inequalitiet and porver strugglesmay be a normal rather than an abnormal occurrence.Socia order, rvhen it is evident, may itself be the consequenceof political force rather T n n S o c r o r , o c r c A LA N e r v s r s o r E o u c e r l o N than an indicator of widespreadagreementabout socialgoals.The use of coercion to achievesocialstability is most obvious in societiesruled by totalitarian regimes, but it is a regular feature of life even in democratic societies.Thken together,these major criticisms sometimesportray structural functionalism as an approach limited by its attempts to impose order and control arbitrarily onto social circumstancesrather than to subject them to sustainedanalytical inquiry. InterpretativeAnalysis Sociologistswho work within interpretativetraditions portray the social world as produced and interpreted by human activity. As the name of one important branch of interpretative sociology-syT|glrg. interactionism-denotes, the main focal points for social analysisare social interactions and social symbols. People develop and sharemeaningswith one another as they engagein social activity and attempt to make senseof their activity within a social context. Interpretative sociology,in contrast with structural functionalism, is concerned with the analysisof social processesrather than social structures.Structures serveas guidelinesfor interaction that comes into being, and can be changedor modified through social activities. Individuals act, comprehend, and have motives; social structuresdo not. The world, viewed this way, is seento be'socially constructed' becausethe nature and meaning of social reality have no existenceindependent of our relationswith other people,either at a face-to-facelevelor through the language, beliefs,knowledge,and modes of communication createdand sharedby people. Becausesociology and other scientific investigationsare forms of social activity, scientificdata and observations,likeother socialproducts,must be understood in terms of how they are processedby the human mind. Science,therefore,is subject to varying interpretations, as are other forms of social interaction. These insights do not mean that it is impossible to conduct scientific inquiry into the socialworld. Rather,our understanding of science(whether we are studying society or the natural world) must take into account the importance of human values and interpretations in shaping the world and how we seeit. Interpretative analysis is sometimes called microsociolo-gl becauseit is concerned with patterns of interaction at an everyday,ini.tp.rco"al level, as opposed to the broader, macrosociological orientation of structural functionalism and much critical sociology.While it may seemthat the individualistic starting point is not sociologicalbecauseit doesnot focus on socialstructures,it is important to recognize that interpretativeanalysisstudiesindividuals asparticipants in socialinteraction and shared meaning rather than as isolated units. The task of sociologr', presentedthis way, is to help people developa clear awarenessof their own identities and subjectivity,their relationswith others,and their placewithin societr'. lnterpretativesociologymakesa valuablecontribution to sociologicalan.rlr'.:by showingthe importanceof our interactionswith other people.It highiight. i '.. significanceof everydayencountersand situations,and emphasizesh orr'nr(.::'.. :' - arecreatedandsharedthroughsocialinteraction.Aso}rpOSedt().ll'...i..l.:.| Tnn Socrolocy or EoucarroN rN Cnuen,q of analysisthat emphasizesociety at more abstract levels,it placesactive humar beings at the core of sociologicalinquiry, Despiteits insights,interpretativesociologyoften fails to provide a comprehen sive analysisof sociallife. The tendencywithin this approach to focus on immedi ate social settings is more oriented to description than to explanation. Thi ahistorical emphasismakes it relativelyunable to explain problems such as how i is possiblefor enduring social inequalitiesto persistor how broad socialposition and expectations may change. In the analysis of education, for example, ar emphasison interactions within the classroom is often unconnected with sociE structuresand practicesthat shapethe organization of the classroom,the curricu lum, and the forcesthat condition the opportunities and experiencesof the edu cational participants. Similarly, an acknowledgement that particular socia circumstancesand definitions are socially constructed does not necessarilyindi catewhose definitions are employed or what barriers stand in the way of attempt to introduce new definitions and social constructions. Critical Sociologies Various forms of critical analysishave been posed as alternativesto the tradition al variants of sociology representedby structural functionalism and interpretativ analysis.Critical analysis,as the term suggests,engagesin a critique of socialstruc tures and practicesby probing beyond descriptions of the status quo. The socia world, as opposed to something neutral or mutually beneficial to all its members is characterized by fundamental structural inequalities constituted in part b' oppressionby dominant groups over subordinate social groups. Critical sociolo -) gy, in this regard, is committed to social change as well as to social analysis.Thi does not mean that the approachis unscientific.Instead,in common with inter pretative approaches,it arguesthat scienceis a necessaryhuman activity uncover ing aspectsof social reality that tend to be hidden from us in our everydaylives. Thesecharacteristicscan be illustrated with referenceto two main brancheso critical analysis,Marxism and feminism. Marxist analysisemphasizesthat clas defined accordingto ownership and control of productive resources,is the funda mental basisof socialinequality and oppression.Feminist analysisseespatriarchl or male domination of personaland institutional life, asthe primary basisof socia differentiation. From different starting points, both Marxist and feminis approaches share the view that extensive analysis is required to uncover th, dynamics and roots of socialoppressionand structured inequalities.Both theoret ical stancesalso share a common commitment to changing repressivesocial con ditions, although each contains varying assessmentsof the nature of, an( strategiesto advance,social change. Despitethis common ground, there are important differencesamong particula forms of critical analysis.Evengeneralorientationsto analysissuch asMarxism anr feminism contain sharply divergent approaches.Whereas radical feminism an< orthodox Marxism, for example,disagreefundamentally about the origins of socia Trln SocrolocrcAL ANnrvsrs or Erucerlox in theSociology of Education Box1.2 Research 0rientations Research,particularly through the systematic collection and analysis of data, is a fundamental part of any scientific discipline. Just as there are differences in how sociologists understand and explain educational problems, researchersin the sociology of education employ a wide range of research approaches and methodologies in their work. This work has produced important new knowledge and provided support or countervailing evidence relatedto existing theoretical insights. Sociologicalresearchon education has also introduced or popularized many significant methodological innovations. Emile Durkheim, whose work provided an explicit empirical and methodological foundation for early social scientific research,explored educational issuesthroughout his career. Major studies on the impact that schooling had on social inequality across generations have introduced advanced statistical techniques into social science researchin North America, Europe, and other regions since the mid1950s,while researchbasedat the University of Chicago and other placeshas provided a long tradition of innovative qualitative analysis of education. Detailed records, reports, and massive statistical databases-collected and maintained by national and provincial governments, international bodies such as uNESCo,and other central agenciesinvolved in education-often serve as rich data sourcesfor educational researchers. However, these resourcescan have limited utiliry for researcherswho may not be able to gain accessto them and who may require information collected for different purposes and categorizedin different ways from those determined by the sponsoring agencies.Recentemphasisin fields like education and health care on the use of empirical researchevidencefor poliry and professional decision-making has provided an impetus for large-scaleinitiatives to co-ordinate more systematicallyresearchinitiatives, databases,and findings. In the United States,the implementation of federal legislation designatedthe'No Child Left Behind Act'of 260I representsone of the most visible examples of evidencebaseddecision-m"kirg in education. On a more modest and lesscontroversial scale,initiatives in Canada, such as the creation of the Canadian Council on Learning in 2004, have provided new opportunities for researchers,policymakers, and other partners to co-ordinate research-relatedactivities focused on key dimensions of education and lifelong learning. Educational researcherstypically rely on data collected from a variety of sources.While some specializein quantitative methodologies and techniques, drawing upon data collected through secondarysourcesas well as survevsand instruments they have developed through their own research,others emplc-x' qualitativemethods suchasinterviews,focusgroups,observation,document.rr\ analysis,and narrative accounts.Many combine researchmethods in rrr.lcr i, ' L4 THE Socrolocy on EoucerroN rN CeNeoe gain a richer understanding of educationalstructures, practices,and meanings. Throughout the book, referencesare made to findings derived from studiesand approachesthat representan extensiverange of thesediverseorientations. oppressionand how best to conduct social research,Marxist feminism and socialist feminism arglrethat the two approachescan be highly compatible. Critical educationaltheorieshavebeen subjectto recentchallengesboth internally and externally.Within critical analysis,proponents of various positions have often dismissedor ignored possibilitiesfor sharedinsights such as an exploration of how factors like class,gender,and race interact with one another or an assessment of strategiesfor effectiveeducational and social change.Shifting economic, cultural, and political alignments, along with increasing attention to challenges associatedwith globalization,new technologies,and environmental issues,have also been accompaniedby new ways of thinking about the social world and relations betweenpeople and nature. Several researchers,drawing on interpretative analysis, postmodernist critiques,and insightsdevelopedwithin other disciplines,havearguedthat no single approach is sufficient to provide an adequateunderstanding either of education or' rnore broadly, of human life in general (Davies, 1995; Kanpol, l9g2). Postmodern thought, in particular, has emerged as a theoretical alternative suggesting that contemporary social life and personal experiencesare so rnultidimensional and fragmented that no unified theory or set of ideascan adequately explain social reality. Despite these challenges,however,critical educational perspectivesare able to demonstrate their resiliency when they identiflz issuesand presentanalyticaltools that not only advanceour understandingof socialproblems but also seekto find effectivesolutions to them. EvrEncrNG DTRECTToNS rN THE cnrrrcAr. Or EouCATIoN ANALysrs This book adopts a critical stancetowards the analysisof education, in particular drawing on four interrelated forms of critical analysisthat have influenced recent thinking about educational matters: critical pedagogy,ferninist pedagogy,,antiracism education, and political economy. They will be outlined briefly here, discussed more fully in Chapter 2, and integrated into the analysis employed in subsequentchapters. Critical Pedagogy Critical pedagogy is influenced by severalcritical traditions and motivated by the desireto integrateeducationaltheory and educationalpractice.Like Marxism and terllirti.snt, its advocatesemphasizethe deeplyrooted power imbalancesand social inequalitiesthirt infuseschoolingstructuresand processes. In common with interPrct.tti\e .ltlti po5llnodern arralysis,critical predagogyalso stressesthe symbolic Tnr SocroLocICAL Arverysrs or Eoucerrc-rx importance of knowledge,language,and social action within educationalprrx!.tices.Education has both cultural and economic significanceas a mechanisnt ti-rat givesshapeand meaning to people'slife experiences,thereby reinforcing the prir'ilegesof advantagedgroups relativeto powerlesssegmentsof society.Educational practices,accordingto critical pedagogy,must be restructuredto representthe voices and experiencesof all social groups, not just those who have sufficient resourcesand power to advancetheir own interests. Feminist Pedagogy Feminist pedagogy,like critical pedagogy,challengesthe common view that education is neutral, and commits itself to transform the education systemas a consequenceof the critique it offers. Feminist pedagogy argues that educational theory and practice must take into account the differential experiences,life chances,and ways of knowing that prevail for men and rvomen in society.As teachers,mothers, and students,women tend to be excludedfrom key roles in educational decision-making and research,which thereby servesboth to reflect and to perpetuate their socio-economic subordination relative to men. As a basis for achieving the true function of education, which is the empowerment of human beings,feminist pedagogyseeksto sensitizeeducators,students,and researchers to the ways in which gender structuresmen's and women's lives. Anti-RacismEducation Educationalapproachesinformed by anti-racism emphasizethe powerful social impact of inequalitiesand ideologiesbasedon race.Anti-racism education aligns itself with critical and feminist pedagogiesin its quest to empower marginalized persons, while it shareswith political economy a critique of material circumstancesthat produce fundamentalsocialinequalities.Educationalinstitutionsand the knowledge and practicesassociatedwith them are implicated in the production and legitimation of racial discrimination and other forms of racism. However,schooling and post-secondaryeducation can play a crucial role in working to addresstheseproblems. Political Economy Political economy stressesthe interrelationshipsthat prevail among the various segmentsof society,including the economic,political, and socialrealms.Like other approaches,there are various strandswithin political economy,ranging from traditional and liberal thought to orthodox Marxist perspectives.This book is informed by recent developmentsin critical political economy that examine the interplay among class,race, gender,and other central factors that shape and are shapedby people'slife experiences. This approacharguesthat in order to make sense of social reality,we must examine how people collectivelyproduce and reproduc.' both the material and symbolic conditions of their social existence.Educatirrn. viewed this way, has importance as a site in which people'spr'rsonalitic.'.rnJlj:i o p tionstake shapethrough i nteracti onamong the characteri stic: . urc\ ( l i, t r '. . '. . - - t6 Tnn Socrolocy or Eouc.c,TroNrN C,tNloA. they bring with them into educational settings,the structures and practicestha constitute education on an ongoing basis,and the linkagesbetweeneducation anr the socio-economic context within which it operates.More recent political eco nomic analysis,informed by practicesassociatedwith globalization,has shifted it focus from education in specific national or regional settingsin order to under stand linkageswith comparativeand international dimensions of education. CoNcrusroN The sociology of education, parallel to the educational realitiesit seeksto invest gate and explain, is a multi-faceted and changing endeavour. It is essentialtr maintain sufficient scopeand diversity in the analysisof education in order to cap ture the richnessof education in its various forms. At the sametime, becauseedu cational researchand theory can be used to guide policy and practice, we mus ensure that our understanding of educational matters developsin a comprehen sive way, basedas much as possibleon complete and accurateinformation that i sensitiveto its potential impact on people'slives. The task to develop a socially meaningful understanding of education is espe cially daunting at a time when education facesseriouschallengesoften considere to be of crisis proportions. Canada'sgrowing integration into new global econom ic and political alignments is forcing a reassessment of how education should bes be employed for competitive advantage. Significant changes occurring acros institutional spheresof contemporary life are accompaniedby transformations ir how we engagewith and make senseof our identities and our relationswith socir and natural environments. Educational reform and reorganization are furthe promoted through changing government priorities and operations,importan demographicand economictransformations,and strategiesdevelopedin respons to issuesrelated to regional diversity,national unity, and shifting global relation: Media attention and public outcries periodically focusedon real or imagined con cerns such as declining educational standards, intolerable illiteracy and schoc dropout rates,lack of discipline and respectfor authority, increasingcrime rate among young offenders,and lack of moral guidanceand focus among youth hav drawn attention to the limitations of existing educationalbureaucraciesand t, desiresfor accountability and choice in schooling.Changing gender relations,ne\ patterns of immigration, and prospects for self-determination among Firs Nations have forced educationalinstitutions to be increasinglyresponsiveto issue of representation,cultural diversity, and equity. Shifting arrangements and ten sions related to work, income, and family life, and transitions throughout the lif coursehave carried over into schooling,creatingpressuresfor increasedflexibilit and demands for new educationalsupports and servicesat the same time tha budgetary needsfor public education and social servicesmust be justified in suc a wav as to ensurethey do not fall behind other priorities. Ir-r the chapters that follow historical and contemporary dimensions o Canadian education,its structure and participants,and the challengesfacing i are examined through critical sociologicalinquiry. Each chapter highlights Tns SocrolocrcAr, ANerysrs oF Eouc,rr rox i- theme of particular importance within the sociology of education. Chapter i providesan overviewof major theoreticalapproaghesand issues,contrastins,tr.rditional perspectiveswith more recent critical analysis.Chapter 3 is concernec-l with the historical development of formal education in Canada, showing horv divergent objectivesand contestation have shapededucational policies and practices. Chapter 4 examines the organization and dimensions of contemporarl' education systemsin Canada and other nations. Chapter 5 examinesclassroom interaction and educational practices, revealing how day-to-day educational activities reflect the tension between the need to produce distinct educational outcomes and less clearly deiineated elements of human social development. Chapter 6 exploresthe nature and development of teaching, analyzinghow teachers' work is subject to many of the same forces,such as control by external managersand demands for increasedproductivity, as other occupation5-nf the same time as its orientationsto educationaland socialprocesseslend it a unique professionalcharacter.Chapter 7 addressesthe relationship between education and work, highlighting in particular the notion that, contrary to persistent demands that schooling and work training should be more closelylinked, the nature and purposesof formal educationalso are determinedby other competing priorities. Chapter 8 highlights the ways in which educationcontributesto both socio-economic opportunity and the reproduction of structured inequalitiesamong various segmentsof the population. Chapter 9 draws together key themes coveredin the previous chapters,focusing in particular on alternativevisions of educational reform framed through diverse social and economic vantage points in a context in which the composition of educationalparticipantsand expectationsabout education'ssocial and economic roles are changing rapidly. The discussionlinks contemporarydebatesover such issuesas educationalfinance,accountabilityand choice,technologicalchange,and social inclusion to accommodatediverseeducational communities.Theserelateddebatesrevealthe importance of education to fundamental socialand political choicesand directions. ANuorarED Funrnpn RseorNGS Apple, Michael W. 1999. Power, Meaning, and ldentity: Essaysin Critical Educational Studies.New York: Peter Lang Publishing. This collection of papersby one of the most influential critical analystsof education in North America offers perspectiveson issues, practices,and developmentscentral to education systems. Ballantine, |eanne H., and Ioan Z. Spade, eds. 2008. Schoolsand Society:A Sociologicnl Approachto Education,3rdedn. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Pine Forge Press.This collection draws together excerptsfrom severalclassiccontributions to the sociology of eciLrcation as well as more recent research contributions, particularly from the L-nitc..l States.Core topics include school organizationand relationships,social and politii.rl contexts of schooling, equity and inequality,higher education, educertionalr.'t,,r::: and globalization. Davies,Scott, and Neil Guppy. 2006. The SchooledSociety:An Introrlucti()n11,t/', r '.' of Educatiort.Toronto: Oxford University Press.The authors offcr .ln : " : -' ::'. to core themesand conceptsin the sociologicalanah'sisof .'cluc.rii,,:r THs Socrolocy or EoucerroN rN C.c.NA.o,{ understand how schools are organized,and how they selectand socializestudents, in order to fulfill social requirements associated.with the emergence of contemporary knowledge-basedeconomies. Dei, George ). Sefa,Irma Marcia fames, Leeno Luke Karumanchery, Sonia lames-Wilson, and Jasmin Zine. 2000. Removing the Margins: The Challengesand Possibilitiesof InclusiveSchooling.Toronto: Canadian Scholars'Press. Drawing on varied accountsand experienceswith Canadian schooling,the authors outline a framework for the creation of inclusive educational practicesthat focus on how educational successmust be oriented to the needsof students from diversesocial and cultural backgrounds. )enks,Chris, ed. 1998.CoreSociologicalDichotomies.London: Sage.The contributors to this edited collection provide an introduction to sociology through an overview of the central debatesand themes the discipline is concerned with, including structure/agency, fact/value,local/global,racelethnicity,and numerous others. Lauder, Hugh, Phillip Brown, Jo-Anne Dillabough, and A.H. Halsey,eds. 2006. Education, Globalization,and Social Change.Oxford: Oxford University Press.This is one of the most comprehensive collections to analyze contemporary education systems from a variety of perspectives,with contributions highlighting theoretical developments,substantiveissues,and researchfindings from leading researchersrepresentingdiversedisciplinary and national contexts. Knv Tnnus Agency Recognition that human beings act on the basis of various degreesof choice and free will. Anti-racism education An approach to educational theory and practice oriented to identifying and changing attitudes, policies, and practicesthat discriminate on the basisof race. Critical pedagogy An approach oriented to progressiveeducational change by linking educational practicesand experienceswith social critique and a vision of educational alternatives. Education The process by which human beings learn and develop capacitiesthrough understanding of their social and natural environments,which takesplace in both formal and informal settings. Feminist pedagogy An approach to educational analysisgrounded in a critique of gender inequalitiesin education and the factors that give rise to them, and committed to practices to changethose inequalities. Interpretative analysis An approach to understanding social life that emphasizesthe role played by meanings and intersubjectiverelationshipsin social activity. Political economy An approach that emphasizesthe interrelationships among social, economic, and political factors in social life; critical political economy examines the causesand consequencesof deep-rooted forms of social and economic inequality. Positivism A philosophic approach that emphasizessensoryexperienceas the basisfor all knowledge,applied as a scientific framework that seeksto derive and test laws basedon empirical evidencefrom systematicobservation and measurement. Schooling Education systems and processesorganized through formal educational institutions. T u p S o c r o r , o c r c A rA- u a r v s r s o r E o u c e r r o x lq Social structure Elements of social life that are relatively patterned, interconnected,ancl enduring, often understood with referenceto the rules and boundaries associatedrvith different forms of social action. Sociology An academicdiscipline concernedwith the nature and organization of societies and the relationshipsthat exist among individuals and societies. Srurry QunsrroNs l. What is education? How does education differ from schooling and training? 2. Why is it important to examine education from different disciplines and perspectives? 3. Discuss the relationship between sociology and other disciplines with respectto the analysis of educational issues.What distinct contributions can a sociological analysis make to an understanding of education? 4. How important are educational credentials to social participation and advancement in contemporary societies?To what extent can, or should, factors other than formal education be used to assessa person's employment prospects? 5. What major social and economic forces need to be taken into account for an adequate understanding of education?