Sociology of Education » (1st Edition)

This comprehensive reader examines the most pressing topics in sociology and education and exposes students to examples of sociological research on schools. Drawing from classic and contemporary scholarship, noted sociologist Alan Sadovnik has chosen readings that examine current issues and reflect diverse theoretical approaches to studying the effects of schooling and society.

This reader provides students with examples of both the best theory and research in the field. Through full, rather than excerpted primary source readings, the text presents the powerful insights of sociology in providing an understanding of the effects of schooling in contemporary society.

Part I. Theory and Method in the Sociology of Education 1. Introduction: Theory and Research in the Sociology of Education 2. On Education and Society 3. Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification 4. Broken Promises: School Reform in Retrospect 5. On Understanding the Processes of Education: The Contributions of Labeling Theory 6. The Forms of Capital 7. Social Class and Pedagogic Practice 8. The Effects of Education as an Institution Part II School Organization and Processes: Teaching, Learning and Curriculum 9. The Organizational Contexts of Teaching and Learning: Changing Theoretical Perspectives 10. Is there Really a Teacher Shortage? 11. Whose Markets, Whose Knowledge Part III International Education 12. The Political Construction of Mass Schooling: European Origins and Worldwide Institutionalization 13. Marketization and Privatization in Mass Education Systems 14. Nation Versus Nation: The Race to Be the First in the World Part IV Higher Education 15. Changes in Access to Higher Education in the United States, 1980-1992 16. It's Not Enough to Get Through the Open Door: Inequalities by Social Background in Transfer from Community Colleges to Four-Year Colleges 17. College-for-All: Do Students Understand What College Demands? Part V Education and Inequality 18. Tracking: From Theory to Practice and More than Misplaced Technology: A Normative and Political Response to Hallinan on Tracking 19. Invisible Inequality: Social Class and Childrearing in Black Families and White Families 20. Collective Identity and the Burden of Acting White in Black History, Community and Education 21. The Burden of Acting Neither White Nor Black: Cultural Conflict Among Asian-American Students 22. The Help-Seeking Orientation of Latino and non-Latino Urban High School Students: A Critical-Sociological Investigation 23. What Do We Know About the Effects of Single-Sex Schools in the Private Sector?: Implications for Public Schools Part VI. Educational Reform and Policy 24. Complexity, Accountability, and School Improvement 25. The False Promises of School Choice in NCLB 26. Our Impoverished View of Educational Reform