Reconceptualising Structure and Agency in the Sociology of Education: structuration theory and schooling

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 involved 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.     

Mario Bunge, Systematic Philosophy and Science Education: An Introduction

Mario Bunge was born in Argentina in 1919 and is now in his mid-90s. He studied atomic physics and quantum mechanics with Guido Beck (1903?C1988), an Austrian refugee and student of Heisenberg. Additionally he studied modern philosophy in an environment that was a philosophical backwater becoming the first South American philosopher of science to be trained in science. His publications in physics, philosophy, psychology, sociology and the foundations of biology, are staggering in number, and include a massive 8-volume Treatise on Philosophy. The unifying thread of his scholarship is the constant and vigorous advancement of the Enlightenment Project, and criticism of cultural and academic movements that deny or devalue the core planks of the project: namely its naturalism, the search for truth, the universality of science, the value of rationality, and respect for individuals. At a time when specialisation is widely decried, and its deleterious effects on science, philosophy of science, educational research and science teaching are recognised, and at a time when ??grand narratives?? are thought both undesirable and impossible??it is salutary to appraise the fruits of one person??s pursuit of the ??Big?? scientific and philosophical picture or grand narrative. In doing so this special issue brings together philosophers, physicists, biologists, sociologists, logicians, cognitive scientists, economists and mathematicians to examine facets of Mario Bunge??s systematic philosophy and to appraise its contribution to important issues in current philosophy and, by implication, education.     

Mario Bunge’s Materialist Theory of Mind and Contemporary Cognitive Science

Bunge??s writings on the mind?Cbody problem provide a rigorous, analytical antidote to the persistent anti-materialist tendency that has characterized the history of philosophy and science. Bunge gives special attention to dualism and its shortcomings, and this attention is welcome in view of the resurgence of the doctrine today. However, I focus my comments selectively on Bunge??s more controversial, provocative claims, not to dismiss them, but to engage with them seriously. For example, a difficulty arising from Bunge??s rhetorical style and its undoubted virtues is that not all the targets of his selfconfessed ??bashings?? (2010, xi) are equally deserving. For example, Bunge suggests ??most contemporary philosophers of mind are indifferent to psychology, or are remarkably uninformed about it??. This charge cannot be sustained today in light of the work of foremost philosophers today.     

Realism in the Sociology of Education: 'Explaining' social differences in attainment

The search for scientific explanation in sociology is an attempt to make statements about the causal mechanisms of social structures. The relationship between techniques of quantitative analysis and explanatory models of the association between social class and educational success, with particular reference to the work of Jencks, Boudon, and Bourdieu, are examined in the context of empirical data from the New Zealand 'Progress at School' project. The position of statistical model-building and non-quantitative studies in a realist sociology of education are explored in an examination of the central problem of the sociology of education: the causes of social differences in educational attainment.     

Bernstein and the explanation of social disparities in education: a realist critique of the socio‐linguistic thesis

Can an explanation of the origins of social disparities in educational achievement be assisted by a critical examination of Bernstein’s sociology? This central question is approached by a consideration of the status of Bernstein’s socio‐linguistic thesis. The focus is on the nature of the explanations provided. The paper asks: What is the explanatory force of Bernstein’s structuralism? What is the relationship between Bernstein’s sociological explanations and Vygotskian psychological explanations? What are the effects for pedagogy of cognitive socialization mediated by language‐use consistent with Bernstein’s theory? The answers to these questions may pose a challenge for sociologists of education engaged with Bernstein’s sociology.     

科学知识社会学的自然主义路径

20世纪70年代兴起的科学知识社会学解构了传统科学哲学将科学知识视为真理、实在等哲学观念而独霸对知识解说权的地位,同时建构了一种能够对科学知识进行社会学说明的恰当模式。与哲学家关注人们“应当”怎样进行科学研究不同,社会学家思考的是人们“实际上如何”进行科学研究。关注点的不同,致使科学知识社会学选择了自然主义作为其方法论的基础。自然主义诉求的实现需要借助具体方法的运用,体现在科学知识社会学家对自然主义的诉求并不是孤立的,而是将经验主义方法、描述主义方法与之缠结在一起,共同寻求探索科学的目标。     

Mario Bunge’s Philosophy of Mathematics: An Appraisal

In this paper, I present and discuss critically the main elements of Mario Bunge??s philosophy of mathematics. In particular, I explore how mathematical knowledge is accounted for in Bunge??s systemic emergent materialism. To Mario, with gratitude.     

Towards productive critique of large-scale comparisons in education

ABSTRACT

International large-scale assessments and comparisons (ILSAs) in education have become significant policy phenomena. How a country fares in these assessments has come to signify not only how a nation’s education system is performing, but also its future prospects in a global economic ‘race’. These assessments provoke passionate arguments at specialist conferences and in scholarly journals and they are just as passionately debated in the media. Within academe, ILSAs are researched by sociologists and psychometricians, policy experts and statisticians. This multidisciplinary, multi-voice discussion has not always served to highlight the complexity of the issues involved. Instead, discussions across various groups of actors have often led to a polarisation of views and a hardening of stances. Large-scale comparisons have deeply divided academic opinion with regard to their validity, usefulness and use. The divergence in ontological commitments, methodologies and paradigms of research makes discussions among one set of scholars almost incomprehensible to another. New theories, concepts and vocabularies are urgently required to engage productively with this important phenomenon. Borrowing concepts from Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the history and sociology of numbers, I argue that understanding such comparative exercises as socio-technical assemblages would move the critique of large-scale comparisons in education in more productive directions.     

科学知识社会学的自然主义路径

20世纪70年代兴起的科学知识社会学解构了传统科学哲学将科学知识视为真理、实在等哲学观念而独霸对知识解说权的地位,同时建构了一种能够对科学知识进行社会学说明的恰当模式。与哲学家关注人们应当怎样进行科学研究不同,社会学家思考的是人们实际上如何进行科学研究。关注点的不同,致使科学知识社会学选择了自然主义作为其方法论的基础。自然主义诉求的实现需要借助具体方法的运用,体现在科学知识社会学家对自然主义的诉求并不是孤立的,而是将经验主义方法、描述主义方法与之缠结在一起,共同寻求探索科学的目标。     

Field theory and educational practice: Bourdieu and the pedagogic qualities of local field positions in educational contexts

Bourdieu’s version of field theory has had an impressive impact on the ways that sociologists of education conceptualize educational practices. These accounts tend to focus on the varying levels of ontological complicity established between students’ cultural dispositions and educational institutions. In this paper, the wisdom of these accounts is acknowledged but it is also suggested that Bourdieu’s field theory does not go far enough to detail the ways that positions in local educational fields embody pedagogic qualities and action trajectories. Drawing on insights from social psychology and relational sociology, a field theory for local educational action is outlined that more adequately accounts for the ways that students and educators directly experience and act upon curricular and pedagogic qualities in educational settings. An empirical example is then offered of the authors’ claims within the context of curricular tracking/streaming, and the article concludes by considering the practical and political consequences of this theoretical shift.     

考试社会学研究述评

考试社会学是个新兴学科,国内外学者在这方面做了大量研究。西方一些社会学家从社会学的视野出发考察了考试的缘起、功能等,如福柯等。国内学者的研究主要集中在考试与社会控制、考试与社会流动与分层、考试与公平、考试与社会生活等方面。考试社会学研究还有待深入和发展。     

当代西方社会分层理论的基本特征述评

二战以来西方社会结构的变化对社会分层理论提出了新的要求。面对变化的社会结构 ,西方社会学在批判马克思模式和韦伯模式的基础上有了很大发展 ,并呈现出了一些新的特征 ,即阶级观念模糊、社会分层维度的多元化、职业分层模式得到强调、社会流动原因获得了多重解释、获取性因素受到重视、社会分层学派杂出 ,分层理论呈现出从冲突走向综合的趋势     

Teacher agency in the performance of inquiry-oriented science curriculum reform

In this commentary, I consider several theoretical and analytical aspects of Tang Wee Teo and Margery Osborne??s case study. I begin by identifying structuralist and cultural themes in Tang Wee and Margery??s theoretical model of human activity. Next, I offer an alternative interpretation for Tang Wee and Margery??s reported findings in terms of the notion of multiple teacher agencies. After that, I discuss the dramaturgical or theatrical nature of the symbolic interactionist model used by Tang Wee and Margery, focusing specifically on the issues of teacher role-taking and curriculum authorship. The paper then ends with a discussion about the significance of Tang Wee and Margery??s study wherein I emphasize the need for science education researchers to give more careful consideration to teacher agency and the analytical value of theatrical metaphors from the field of social dramatism.     

战后西方社会结构演变中的职业分层思想

中产阶级的兴起直接导致了战后西方社会结构的变化。在批评马克思分层模式的同时 ,西方社会学家从韦伯的社会学理论中吸取了更多的养分并形成了职业社会分层的理论体系 ,其中存在着功能派和冲突派的矛盾 ,职业社会分层模式也遭受着不同的批判。事实上 ,这种分层模式并不能解释复杂的社会不平等现象。因此 ,各种分层理论之间兼容并蓄 ,通过综合而逐渐提高其理论解释的全面性是必要的。     

Sociology of education

Three stages in the institutionalization of educational sociology in the U.S.A. are identified, i.e. (1) sociology for teachers, up to the 1910s, (2) sociology for education in the 1920s, and (3) sociology of educational problems, in the 1930s. After the war educational sociology became an established sub-discipline of sociology, called sociology of education, which has roughly three approaches, namely (1) cultural anthropological, (2) social psychological, and (3) historical-in-stitutional. In the 1960s the crisis of education provoked by the explosion in enrolments led to the wider interest of sociologists in education. They analyzed the crisis and cooperated in planning remedies. In the 1970s a “new” critical sociology of education emerged, particularly in Britain, which opposes the functionalism and optimism of the “old” sociology of education.     

Mario Bunge’s Scientific Realism

This paper presents and comments on Mario Bunge??s scientific realism. After a brief introduction in Sects. 1 and 2 outlines Bunge??s conception of realism. Focusing on the case of quantum mechanics, Sect. 3 explores how his approach plays out for problematic theories. Section?4 comments on Bunge??s project against the background of the current debate on realism in contemporary analytic philosophy.     

A Bourdieusian rebuttal to Bourdieu’s rebuttal: social network analysis,regression, and methodological breakthroughs

Abstract

Bourdieu carved out a distinctive analytical niche for his reflexive sociology. His epistemological tool of field analysis, sometimes coupled with statistical correspondence analysis, is particularly powerful when deciphering the matrix of objective structures and subjective structures within social spaces (field) where agents vie for positions (capital), strategise dispositions (habitus), and negotiate practices. When grappling with the inner workings of the social world and the logic of practice within the social world, Bourdieu favours his field theory over network theory and considers correspondence analysis to be superior to regression analysis. In this paper, I argue that Bourdieu’s canonical theory-laden analytical framework does not exclude other methodological approaches. Indeed, Bourdieu himself argues against ‘methodological monotheism’. I therefore make an attempt to develop a Bourdieusian approach to Social Network Analysis (SNA) and regression analysis, despite Bourdieu’s explicit rebuttal to these methodological schools. To this end, I first review Bourdieu’s rebuttal to network analysis and regression analysis. I then tentatively incorporate SNA and regression into Bourdieu’s analytical framework. This is followed by an example of using SNA and regression in Bourdieusian research conducted in a Chinese educational context. In this vein, I engage with a Bourdieusian rebuttal to Bourdieu’s rebuttal.     

A Sociologist Teaches History: Some Epistemological and Pedagogical Reflections

This article discusses the concept of historical sociology in relation to the teaching of a module on an undergraduate degree in Education Studies at a university in the United Kingdom. The module examines the history of education policy in England from 1870 until the present day. Drawing upon comparisons with Social Foundations of Education programs in the United States, I examine some key epistemological and pedagogical issues raised by the interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning followed within the module in which we combine historical and sociological perspectives as a means to understand the evolution of the English education system. In particular, using Bernstein's concept of the pedagogic device as an analytical framework, I consider the epistemological congruence of sociology and history as the contributory disciplines of the undergraduate module. From a discussion of the concept of historical sociology, I conclude that although sociology and history are distinct subjects, they share a large amount of analytical ground that thus facilitates the interdisciplinary approach pursued within the module. Following that, I examine some pedagogical issues that have arisen in my experience of teaching upon the module and I discuss how I have addressed these. I conclude the article by making comparisons to relevant examples from pedagogical practices in Social Foundations of Education programs in the United States.     

From Keighley to Keele: Personal reflections on a circuitous journey through education,family, feminism and policy sociology

This paper uses the methods of personal reflection and auto/biography to consider the ways in which global social and political transformations have influenced a key generation of feminist sociologists entering the academy and attempting to introduce feminist knowledge and pedagogy into academic curricula. Three critical events on or around 22 November are used to highlight key political moments, the associated development of changing themes in forms of analysis of social transformations, and the part played by feminism and sociology within higher education. They are the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963, the Israeli-Arab war in 1973 and the resignation of Margaret Thatcher in 1990. The argument is that there has been a clear relation between changing social and political contexts and methodological understandings, which have drawn on developing feminist perspectives and reflexive sociological analysis, especially as embraced within the sociology of education. In particular, the shift from a political and professional perspective on social change and family life towards one that engages with personal issues is noteworthy. It is one of the hallmarks of both feminist notions associated with reflexivity and developing sociological methodologies and policy sociology. Thus, the personal and the political are now central methodological forms of feminist and sociological analysis within education and, especially, the sociology of education, influencing pedagogy within higher education, especially associated with developments in professional postgraduate education. I weave my personal reflections on my professional developments through an analysis of the key moments related to specific policy regimes and changing forms of understandings within the fields of policy sociology and sociology of education. I conclude with current concerns about the balances between the personal and professional within educational research and policy sociology.