THE SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION: A SOURCE OF BOOK

The academic discipline which studies the social nature of education both as an institution and as an integral part of the total society is the sociology of education. In comparison with other institutional subdivisions of sociology, the interest and research in education has lagged. In this text I have brought together in the form of a sourcebook some of what I consider to be the important contributions in this field of study. In the organization of the sourcebook I have tried to stay away from a common procedure found in the book of readings approach–the use of a large number of articles, usually condensed. My assumption is that if an article is valuable it should be presented in its entirety so that the student may see the nature and logic of the total presentation. This means that fewer articles, but complete ones, are used in this sourcebook than would be found in the usual book of readings. An introduction for each of the sections was written with the intent of providing a broad and easily understood background for the readings that follow. In the introductions I have refrained from a common readings approach of predigesting the articles for the student. The intent is that the articles can and should stand on their own with the student needing only a general introduction to the subject matter. The sourcebook is divided into five sections. Part I: Social Change. In this section we are concerned with the changing nature of education in today's American society characterized by rapid social change. Part II: Nonformal Education. Here the interest is in the many aspects of education that are not a part of the formal educational system. Part III: Social Class. Attention is directed at the interrelationships between the different social classes and formal education. Part IV: The School as a Social System. A look at some of the formal and informal aspects of the school as a system of social relationship. Part V: The Teacher. Here we look at the occupation of teacher as seen from within the profession, the school, and the community at large. It is hoped that this book will meet some of the needs of sociology of education courses taught in many colleges and universities. The sourcebook may also be of value to a variety of different education courses that have, at least in part, a sociological orientation–for example, educational sociology and social foundations of education. The sourcebook was designed to be used either as a text, with the instructor supplementing the material, or in conjunction with a text of the instructor's choice.

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