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Theorists of friendship in contemporary society have suggested that our relationships with peers are characterised by their emphasis on openness, disclosure and emotional communication. Moreover, Beck and Beck-Gernsheim argue that friendship, as a deliberately sought, trusting partnership between two people, can play an important role in countering some of the negative consequences of a market-driven society, 'acting as a shared lifeline to take the weight of each other's confusions and weaknesses'. However, drawing on a series of in-depth interviews with students from nine different higher education institutions, this paper will argue that such theorists overlook significant complexity in the ways in which young adults choose to 'order' their friendships. Indeed, it will suggest that highly individualised and ruthlessly competitive approaches to academic study can be maintained alongside more socially cooperative relationships with friends and peers, played out in non-academic arenas. The paper will discuss the implications of this for both sociological theorising about friendship, and policy and practice within the higher education sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the question of knowledge needs to be reconceptualised if sociology is to make its potential contribution to current debates about the curriculum. It begins with a review of the dominant assumptions underlying contemporary curriculum policy: neo-conservative traditionalism and technical-instrumentalism. It then examines the relativist position on knowledge that follows from the postmodernist critiques that have recently come to dominate social theory, particularly in the sociology of education. The paper argues that, in different ways, each of these approaches avoids the question of knowledge and hence leaves unresolved epistemological and educational dilemmas. In the final section, the paper draws on recent research in the sociology of science to develop what is referred to as a social realist approach to knowledge and explores its implications both for the curriculum and the claims that we are entering a 'knowledge society'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on case-study data collected from undergraduate students taking courses in social theory. The paper sets out an approach to Sociology as a discipline that promotes an understanding of moral categories. Drawing on the work of Bernstein, Benhabib and Hird, a model of 'generalised' and 'concrete other' provides a framework for understanding the discipline of Sociology and its pedagogy. A case study of student experience reveals the complexity of the 'concrete other' and how a more personalised and social interventionist account can be developed through Hird's concept of 'inner diversity'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the difficulties in conceptualising and presenting research, in particular doctoral work in education, in the current climate of intellectual theorising. It argues that many researches experience a phenomenon described in the paper as 'post-modernist tension' when trying to write in an atmosphere of theoretical and methodological uncertainty. The author elaborates the 'symptoms' of post-modernist tension, and makes a critique of some elements of contemporary social theorising. Nevertheless, the author acknowledges the usefulness of contemporary social theory in challenging traditional research, despite its density and inaccessibility to many researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to outline and evaluate Pierre Bourdieu's work as it has appeared most recently in feminist studies and the field of gender and education. In particular, it suggests ways in which Bourdieu's theoretical insights could be seen to more effectively contribute to cutting edge debates in both social theory and feminist thought regarding concepts such as agency, identity and domination. It also argues that a more creative and empirical engagement with the recent work of Bourdieu, alongside an interdisciplinary reading of more recent cultural and social theories of power, would be a fruitful way forward in advancing a feminist sociology of education. In the present historical moment and against the tide of postmodern and post-structuralist feminist accounts, Bourdieu is often read as a determinist who has little to offer contemporary feminist debates or who argues that masculine domination is too tightly woven to social practices of a given field. In short, this paper argues that such a view is not only a misreading of Bourdieu's work on fundamental theoretical grounds, but fails to acknowledge the ways in which his more recent work on masculinity addresses both the cultural and social conditions underlying contemporary forms of symbolic domination. In short, the paper argues that Bourdieu's theory offers an analytical breadth and range beyond the scope of anything that a normative, liberal account of masculine domination could provide. Yet, in drawing from such diversity, Bourdieu's oeuvre is able to resist incomprehensibility. It stands as a highly focused, realistic and generative attempt ( McNay, 1999 ; McLeod, 2004 ) to chart the problems of subordination, differentiation and hierarchy, and to expose the possibilities, as well as the limits, of gendered self-hood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks back at the cares of the sociologist Karl Mannherm, who died 50 years ago. It considers how far Mannheim's work remains relevant and discusses what lessons it may still have to offer Quoting Sir Fred Clarke as saying that educational theory and education policy that took no account of changes in the wider social order would be not only blind but positively harmful, the paper suggests that a similar case applies today. It therefore remains essential that Mannheim's legacy is preserved and that the sociological imagination is exercised in relation to contemporary education policy and education research . In the light of Mannheim's own shift from diagnosing the crisis to prescribing the remedies, the paper also reflects on how far it is legitimate for sociologist of education to make such a more. Finally, the paper consider how Mannheim's notion of planning for democracy might be superseded by more genuinely democratic forms of education policy-making in the aftermath of current neo-liberal policies of deregulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current discourse on the transition from school to work, career decision-making has a pivotal but paradoxical position. Sociological literature emphasises the dominance of socially-structured pathways, whilst policy-making operates on assumptions of individual freedom to choose. In this paper we draw on the work of Pierre Bourdieu to present a new model of career decision-making, given the shorthand title of 'careership'. There are three completely integrated dimensions to the model . These are (i) pragmatically rational decision-making, located in the habitus of the person making the decision, (ii) the interactions with others in the (youth training) field, related to the unequal resources different 'players' possess, and (iii) the location of decisions within the partly unpredictable pattern of turning-points and routines that make up the life course. This model avoids the twin pitfalls of implicit social determinism or of seeing (young) people as completely free agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a response to articles by Shilling and Abraham, which were concerned with the relationship between Giddens' structuration meta-theory, differentiation-polarization theory, and positivism. Despite their conflicting conclusions, both authors criticize my reconstruction of differentiation-polarization theory, and I try to clarify the nature of that reconstruction and the theory it represents. It seems to me that these articles display misunderstandings of, and unwarranted prejudice against, positivism; though they are of course by no means alone in this. I suggest that while the sort of debate in which these authors engage is welcome, there needs to be a more open-minded approach towards the theoretical and methodological resources available to sociologists of education, including those frequently dismissed as positivist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1970s there has been considerable debate among sociologists of education about the macro--micro gap in educational analyses. However, educational research remains divided largely into the study of large-scale phenomena such as social systems and national policies on the one hand, and case-studies of individual schools and social interaction on the other This split has had a number of unfortunate consequences for the development of the field Most importantly, the dominant conceptions of structure and agency employed in the sociology of education are characterised by a dualism which makes it difficult to conceptualise adequately the processes revolved in social change. In this paper, I briefly describe this structure-agency dualism before critically examining three attempts which have been made to address this problem The ability of structuration theory to overcome this dualism is then examined, and I conclude by arguing that this approach offers an important new direction for the sociology of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health has become a symbolic category of considerable importance, expressing a range of notions relating to well-being, consumption and normality A particular view of health as corporeal and individualistic has become pervasive within the new health consciousness, and school physical education represents one site among many where the ideology of healthism is produced This paper draws on a study of an innovative programme in primary schools in Queensland, Australia It explores how on the one hand the instructional discourse of `daily physical education' varied across a number of sites of meaning production and how on the other hand this instructional discourse was embedded in the regulative discourse of healthism which set limits on the extent to which the people operating at these sites could make their own sense of daily physical education We argue that a corporeal and individualistic concept of health, in which body shape and fatness play a central role is being produced through health-based physical education programmes like daily physical education These programmes in turn represent an important site of the production of an individualistic and internalised mode of corporeal control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the dominant themes which underlie many of the health education materials used in schools, and explores whether these are the most appropriate if health education is to make a significant contribution to either children`s health or their education The overall approach to health education is identified as highly individualistic in its emphasis on individual responsibilities, attributes and skills necessary for achieving health Contradictions, distortions and gaps inherent in this model are revealed These contribute to identifying this kind of health education as an ideology, which serves least the needs and interests of those children who are likely to experience the greatest ill-health. The ways in which this approach is inappropriate for schoolchildren are illustrated by a case study, which compares the drinking experiences of a group of children with the alcohol education materials designed for them. To conclude, improvements to both health education for slow learners and more generally to health education in schools are discussed These include the development of an approach which is both child-centred, and critical in locating individual choices about health within the social, economic and political contexts of local communities and wider society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for the theoretical and practical possibilities of applying a `critical theory' of education to British primary schools It traces the series of misconceptions and misinterpretations of progressive education which, coupled with the neglect of its own emancipatory potential, has allowed it to be discredited by right-wing and left-wing politics Re-establishing a fairer reading of its central tenets and coupling this with the developing concept of a `socially critical primary school' provides for an emancipatory primary education which embraces critical theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a response to Professor K. Swanwick's critique of our sociological perspective on music education. A detailed presentation of the sociology of music thesis demonstrates that accusations of 'social determinism' and 'referentialism' are both misconceived Moreover, Swanwick's position leads to difficulties in his approach to music aesthetics, where at times he makes assumptions concerning the work of theorists such as Meyer and Keil which these authors have themselves explicitly repudiated We then relate certain observations which Swanwick's makes concerning the processes of schooling to wider sociological theories of schooling that help make sense of the kinds of constraints Swanwick's correctly identifies Finally, we accept Swanwick's challenge to be more explicit concerning both our response to his charge of relativism and our practical recommendations for the reform of music teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study drew on Bernstein's theory and Moscovici's theory of Social Representations to investigate how children in classrooms with different types of structuration developed social representation of the curriculum. Comparable case studies were carried out in schools chosen to reflect three types of pedagogy according to Bernstein's typology. Twelve classrooms took part and ethnographic investigations were employed to compile a typology of recognition and realisation rules to map the range and type of curriculum structuration in each. Children's representations of the curriculum were investigated through specially designed tasks. Findings showed that as children gained experience of schooling they constructed more elaborate social representations of the curriculum regardless of the pedagogic mode and that classroom structuration became a feature of the junior rather than the infant children's representations. Older children in classrooms with performance pedagogies had two classifications for recognising classroom culture, while those in classrooms with mixed and competence pedagogies did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologist Basil Bernstein's theory of symbolic control and cultural production, reproduction and change, developed since the late 1950's until present day, is famous for its complex, formal and generative character and has gained international acknowledgement. It has provided inspiration for theoretical work in a variety of disciplines and the conceptual framework for robust and sensitive sociological empirical research on cultural and particularly, pedagogic practices and their effects, in many parts of the world. This research in turn was used in the continuous development and refinement of the theory. For a variety of reasons, the theory was not always welcome, or well treated, in the Anglo-Saxon intellectual milieu. It has caused strong controversy and has sometimes become the object of crude oversimplification and miscomprehension, as well as of political and ideological misuse. The theory is explicitly grounded on selected and inventively remolded elements of modern social theory and critically incorporates features of more recent currents of thought.

National styles of 'doing sociology' exist, all celebrating respective 'founding fathers'. Timid, British pragmatism has tended to misrecognise Durkheim ever since our barely transcended early 20th century origins. In relatively low-status teacher education, even when sociology of education was popularly taught from the late sixties through the seventies, Durkheim was presented as a conservative anti-hero. The only important exception to this condition was the teaching and research of Basil Bernstein, unfortunately buried by the excesses both of 'New Directions' and the neo-Marxisms which recoiled from it in the seventies. HIS always numerous and active group of research students became the main carriers of his voice. There are now some signs that failure strewn, maligned and substantially dispersed sociology of education is evincing fresh interest in his and Durkheim's work. Bernstein's interest, since the middle 1950s, has been the study of symbolic systems which function as pedagogic relays. He alone in modem sociology has attempted to move from the seconds that make up the classroom moment, through institutional to societal power structures, in a way that not only insists on conceptual consistency but thinks it not worth having unless it produces both models and empirical markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational learning or epistemology has emerged in order to manage the creation of knowledge and innovation within contemporary capitalism. Its insights are being applied also to the public sector. Much of the research in organizational learning has drawn upon the discipline of psychology, particularly constructivist theory. Two approaches in organizational epistemology are considered here: Nonaka's theory of knowledge creation, and Engeström's expansive learning theory. Notwithstanding the reference to 'learning', these approaches have so far had little application to schools, especially at the level of pedagogy. But there are indications that re-culturing, 'workforce re-modelling' and inter-agency working are becoming more prominent within the public services in England. In these endeavours, government may come to regard organizational epistemology as an important new procedure in the management of change. Thus far, sociology has had two kinds of 'relationship' with organizational epistemology: first, social phenomenology and ethnomethodology have been of practical use; and, second, critical theory objects to the near-absence of a consideration of power and ideology within the discourse of organizational epistemology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bourdieu's social theory offers a way of understanding some of the most important features of the field of educational research, while also providing educational researchers with a rich conceptual apparatus for their practice. This article addresses both of these methodological themes and the connections between them. We begin by outlining some key trends in educational research, mainly in Britain, over recent decades in terms of Bourdieu's Field Theory. Special attention is given to the relative positioning of researchers and the formation of an 'avant-garde'. We refer to the impact of educational policy and attacks on educational research, with attendant effects on the field, and on the formation and legitimacy of knowledge about educational processes. This analysis is followed by an example taken from a contemporary research project in which principles derived from Bourdieu's approach have been adopted in framing methodology. We give particular attention to the terms of the programme in which the project forms a part, and key aspects of it such as 'user engagement'. Both methodological justifications and consequences are discussed, as well as tensions with dominant expectations of research processes and outcomes. Finally, we argue that, following Bourdieu's own public strategies of sociopolitical action, educational research methodology that is radically reflexive has the capacity to found a critically effective discourse with practical consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a strange dissonance between on the one hand the rather disordered and unstructured everyday reality of teaching as noted in literature on teachers' knowledge and on the other hand the tendency among leading social theorists, such as Bourdieu and Giddens to emphasise the ordered and structured nature of education and social life in general Among the possible reasons for the lack of awareness of and sensitivity to the reality of teaching in contemporary social theory, it is suggested that the predominant educational practice in institutions of higher education, the culture of the lecture hall, might have conditioned social theorists to expect a higher degree of order, rationality and predictability than is actually the case in 'real life' Studying the reality of teaching as an area close to real life can help social theory to reorient itself towards a more realistic picture of modem societies, taking into account a higher degree of disorder and unpredictability than recognised in contemporary social theory This hypothesis may be illustrated with reference to an experiment with 'project work' at a Danish university [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locating oneself as a poststructuralist not only emphasies readings of texts, but generates data comparable with this location. This article considers some possibilities in researching everyday happening at primary school. Reading and producing discourages, rather than texts only , involves bringing into play our own subjective understanding. Writing differently then a methodology for the analysis of what we have recorded of what we have recorded as research data. For the study of sites and events one, one possibility is for deconstructions to follow a form of ethnography. However with psotstructural theories and their related academic practices, the research choices are different. An effect of this difference is that the timmings and resolution of gathering, presenting and analysing data are dislocated. These dislocations may be read as an enactment of a radical philosophy. They may also be read as a puzzle to be resisted but which is nevertheless constructed to match today's cultural shift and to challenge the nature of researching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to articulate the theory of resistance with the theories of social and cultural reproduction, within the boundaries of the new sociology of education Starting from the concepts of classification and framing developed by Basil Bernstern and of Pierre Bourdieu's social camp. The author defines some concepts which, in his opinion, are basic to establish the theory of resistance with conceptual rigour and analytical capacity. It will thus be possible to constitute a referential theoretical matrix for the development of counter-hegemonic curricula, teaching materials and pedagogical practices, whose objective is to oppose the school's social and cultural reproduction in its different forms (of class, race, ethnic groups and gender), at its two levels-the reproduction of the sexual and social division of labour and of the inculcation of the dominant ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an assessment of some movements in the theorising of inequality over the last two decades, with particular attention to the Australian context and to the issue of gender as compared with class. It is argued that there has been a useful move from 'inequality as disadvantage' to one which focuses on difference, conflict and the characteristics of the groups previously seen as disadvantaged, but that these moves have been limited, partly by an over-attention to inequality in analysing the content of schooling, and partly by an insufficient attention to inequality in relation to policy and practice initiatives. The discussion of specific examples and issues here suggests also that gender and class should not be treated as simply additive dimensions of a problem, and that analyses should be sensitive to the differing circumstances of countries which are often compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes the historical predecessors of a critical theory of education. The social theory of education is an integral part of social and cultural changes. The liberal or progressive view of faith in education as the basis of social reform developed during the period of social expansion and belief in democratic culture. The view of education as cultural reproduction began as a critique of the liberal social theory of education. Cultural reproduction theory belongs to a later time, when commitment to a common culture has become less tenable as a result of the salience of social fragmentation and class division. The most insightful intellectuals see prevailing social arrangements and patterns of culture as partial, deceptive and socially oppressive. Withdrawal of faith in education is an aspect of the removal of commitment from a system of symbolic interpretation that has lost its claim to universality and its capacity to compensate for socioeconomic deprivation with cultural consolation. Cultural meanings, and the institutions through which are transmitted, are identified with social denomination. The disenchantment is connected to an affirmation, among intellectuals, of the endogenous cultures of the oppressed as more authentic and socially accurate than the official culture.

It is the argument of this article that the New Sociology of Education, and the work of Michael Young in particular, is in the processes of developing a coherent epistemology related to the ideas of critical social theory whose justification is by appeal to the criterion of human betterment, a systematic analysis of social, economic, cultural, epistemological and educational hierarchies and their interpenetration, a conception of political theory which depends upon the application of critical social theory and the analysis of procedures of hierarchy and control in the actual practice of teachers in their concrete social, educational and political situations, and a conception of political action which rejects large scale utopian visions but concentrates instead on the improvement of practice in particular situations through the processes of critical reflection and innovation, the success of which is to be judged in terms of human betterment or, more particularly, increases in the ability of individuals to control their own lives. Thus, it is asserted that the New Sociology of Education offers coherent and related theories of knowledge, control, value and action which present, individually and collectively, a radical alternative to traditional views and allow the development of new insights and practices in education.