Can education change society? A critical analysis and insights from sociological perspectives

Abstract

Presented paper concerns the relationship between the educational system and society. The research question is whether the educational system can provoke changes in society or whether it can only reflect changes that occur outside the institution. The essential is to create a theoretical framework for further research on educational issues while answering the question from different sociological perspectives. The main sociologists covered in the paper are Bowles and Gintis, Illich, Bourdieu and Passeron, Bernstein, and Apple, but other authors are also presented to make the final picture more coherent. The choice of the authors is based on an attempt to represent a diversity of theoretical framework and possible answers. The results show that despite the different theoretical backgrounds and viewpoints all given authors to a certain extent agree with the notion that the role of the educational system in society is secondary and that the institution of education cannot itself change the larger society. In relation to this issue, the authors are concerned with social and/or cultural reproduction in schools, emphasizing the different means through which reproduction occurs. Interconnections between the sociologists and the comparison of their theories are introduced in the Discussion part of the paper.

Keywords

• education system
• role of the institution
• social reproduction
• cultural reproduction
• changes in society