THE CULTURE OF KNOWLEDGE AS SOCIAL FORMATION AND ACT

Abstract

The Sociology of knowledge works to define social reality making its subject matter the relation between socially formed knowledge and social structure. This necessitates an investigation into the relation that exists between knowledge and different factors in the society in order to determine the social reality. When this necessity is taken into consideration, it will become clear that the form of the emergence of existing social realities in a society, ideas and other different factors all together, form the subject and scope of sociology. This formation is realized around specific sociologies such as the ideas that usually generate a cultural structure, ideological dynamics, religion, science, social psychology and sociology of arts. Education is also a significant factor in the composition of class, gender and race dynamics that exist within the scope of this study since the sociology of knowledge makes explicit the subject of education when it takes ideas that produce cultural structures and ideological dynamics as its subject matter. Education is a socially produced institution. It alters and/or develops social values with the influences of different dynamics. The act of alteration and development, producing new social values, is then reflected back to the society via this institution. The society, as a result, regenerates itself and the culture that forms the society, produces and achieves stability. The main themes mentioned above illustrate that knowledge is now a cultural power just as it has been at the stages of history and that the culture of knowledge creates a social order. That “it is not a simple outcome of a social order” is the main subject of this study.

Keywords

• Toplumsal Kimlik
• Culture
• Kültür