The Sociology of Education in Australia: A Political and Intellectual Trajectory

Abstract

The sociology of education is fundamentally concerned with the role of education in social reproduction and change. In Australia such a focus informs fields like gender and education, vocational education and lifelong learning, policy sociology in education, cultural sociology of education, literacy, social justice and education, globalisation and education.This article examines the political and intellectual trajectory of Australian sociology of education. It points to the productivity of educational research in areas such as gender, literacy, and policy and to the failure of sociology of education to address the reproduction of Indigenous and ethnic disadvantage. The paper argues that the theoretical and methodological innovations that characterise sociology are a disciplinary strength, but that it is necessary for the sociology of education to fully grapple with issues of Indigenous and minority education and more recently issues of environmental sustainability.

Keywords

• education
• sociology