Abstract

Info

Title:: Analyzing Different Accounts of History and FutureDevelopment of Sociological Theories of Education

Keywords:: theory of educational sociology; postmodern; integration; new institutionalism

Abstract:: After enjoying a thriving period characterized by the emergence of structural functionalism, conflict theory and interaction theory, sociology of education seems to have reached a plateau where it is difficult to make some theoretical breakthroughs. But some scholars, following the trend of the times, have adjusted their research strategies, directed their attention to different branches of sociology according to their own estimations of their development potentials, and accordingly identified various trends in the future development of educational sociology. Among them, the following three are worthy of note: educational sociology follows the route of “from modern to postmodern to globalization”; education social theory will flourish; new institutionalism will be dominant in the sociology of education. Given the selective acceptance and application of different new theoretical resources, it is inevitable that the development of educational sociology will be influenced by the feasibility of the selected theoretical basis and in particular by the factors like the similarity in social development between the East and the West, the qualification and the technological devices obtained by the researchers, and the development level of related disciplines.