Understanding Education: A Sociological Perspective Alan Cribb, Sharon Gewirtz

Acknowledgements

Preface

Part 1: Approaching education sociologically

Chapter 1 Understanding education: the role of sociology

Chapter 2 Understanding structure and agency

Chapter 3 Varieties of critique

Part 2: Key themes

Chapter 4 Social reproduction

Chapter 5 Knowledge and the curriculum

Chapter 6 Identity

Chapter 7 Teachers’ work

Part 3: Conclusion

Chapter 8 Extending reflexivity in sociology of education

References

"The authors are to be commended for their densely nuanced exploration of complex debates about values, reflexivity and ethics in sociological knowledge and for their use of local, national, global and interdisciplinary examples of educational practices, processes and instances."
Sociology

"Provides a thorough, cohesive and incisive account of the ways in which a value based approch to education has much to offer. The clarity of the arguments make it a good text to use with students whilst also providing an engaging resource for those who have a background in education but may not have considered their field in this light."
Sociological Research Online

"This book is about how the sociology of education works as an intellectual practice. It offers new and important insights into the complex and often troubled relations between sociology and education."
Stephen Ball, Institute of Education, University of London

"With extraordinary clarity, Gewirtz and Cribb map the complexity of theories and perspectives in the sociology of education and interweave a discussion of the centrality of its political and ethical dimensions. They build a compelling, nuanced – and much needed – case for a rigorous politically committed educational sociology."
Pauline Lipman, University of Illinois at Chicago

"This important book charts the field of sociology of education, with innovative attention to the issue of values within this body of work. The analysis both celebrates and interrogates the normative dimension of sociologists' work in education, and in doing so provides a lively engagement with the field that will stimulate students and experts alike."
Becky Francis, Roehampton University

Fills a gap in the sociology of education market for an accessible and thought-provoking theoretical text for upper-level undergraduates.

Combines a comprehensive and rigorous overview of various thinkers, theories and concepts in the sociology of education, with a clear and accessible style.

Explores the values that underpin various theories of education in order to ask, and help answer, questions such as who should be educated, how and when should they be educated and what should they be taught.

Covers sociologists’, teachers’ and policymakers’ experiences and understandings of education.