SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

Sociology of Education

Sociology of Education

Introduction

Democratic societies are facing the need to justify the contrast between the principle of equality and the reality of inequality. Some inequalities may appear legitimate because they only seem to arise from the efforts and talents of individuals placed initially under conditions of equal opportunity. The school system is specifically intended to detect the most deserving and promote to the best seats. It should give everyone a chance, and in social inequalities, inequities in school are, for that very reason, seen as particularly intolerable: they are not only unequal among others, but a belt reproduction of inequalities, particularly undermining the meritocratic ideology. Analyze the origins of social inequality in school is therefore an issue inextricably scientific and political, since it amounts to explore the processes that generate and reproduce social inequalities.

Sociology on these issues is relatively productive. But the abundance of research is insufficient to produce a coherent knowledge; one hand, because the essential thing is not to list the findings but to identify the most stable, prioritize them, to articulate, in a overall perspective, and secondly, because these findings make sense only if the supports of a theoretical framework, which sheds light on the genesis and evolution. In this paper, we present a first part in a synthesis of contemporary knowledge of the origins and aspects of social inequality at school, mainly in France today, before examine in a second part how these "regularities" may be explained by questioning the existing theoretical constructs. Finally we discuss the opportunities of political issues.

Before 1970

First, between 1870 and 1944 England was created in an educational system and during this period, there was also a shift of power: control over the Church to control by the state in which the power of the "State" was a mixture of powers of the authorities local and central. The somewhat imprecise way to describe this but normal pattern of state power in education is reflected in the expression 'a system national issue, a local government. “Second, the emphasis on providing an elementary education mass began in 1870 as a project of state, changed in 1944 to an emphasis on secondary education. The ideology of this project, especially after 1944, was contained in the term "equal educational opportunities can't” and the political project intended to encourage meet-and-demand social equality of access to education. The State would help create a more egalitarian society (socially). This ideology and speeches have been crumbling along the past 25 years, which should not be single- mind that has placed particular emphasis on the expansion of education higher.

The historic and crucial change is that the core political principle of education system is now economic competition, rather than equality opportunities and social cohesion. The change in these two principles (who controls the educational system, and what good is it) has a clear starting point. The changes are produced- rum quickly. Indeed, many of them are well known due precisely the person to whom such changes are associated: the former ...