Sociology of Education

Definition/meaning and Role of Sociology of Education

A major and specialized branch of Sociology which systematically and
scientifically studies the sociological issues, problems and questions that
occur within education.
Sociology of Education uses well planned methods and procedures of
the research process to investigate and analyze the concerns that are
sociological in nature but affect, influence or have impact on education,
school, teachers, pupils, and the learning-teaching activities inside the
classrooms and the schools; in general for example, the academic
achievement of pupils, the relationships between teachers and pupils that
may affect the learning-teaching-activities.
Sociology of Education is designed to examine various other social
forces and components outside the education and school phenomena that
influence them. It is because of its ability and the need to analyze and
examine the various environments surrounding the total education
process that Sociology of Education came into being and has continued
to grow.
The Role of Sociology of Education
The role of Sociology of Education
❖ Is geared towards enlightening all of us as schoolteachers,
administrators, policy makers and planners, parents and the general
public, on how the education process in society is like.
❖ Meant to analyze, examine, investigate, or study the various
features of education that are affected by an also affect the society.
❖ It describes and suggests possible solutions to problems, gives
recommendations and implications for and to education but like
Sociology, it avoids sounding prescriptive.
 ❖ Provides a specialized sociological perspective of looking at the
education process so that we all may obtain more dependable
knowledge about and understand it better socially.

Why is this role of Sociology of Education so important?

1. Education is one of the major social institutions.
2. As a social institution, it is organized, structured, maintained, and
supported by society so as to fulfill a vital function that society
cannot effectively deal with.
3. Education and especially the schools, deal with the children, a
precious commodity in any human society.
4. In every human society, we can find evidence of an education
system or activities that cost a lot of in terms of human energy and
resources.
5. Education in any society is meant to contribute immensely to the
development, growth and the wellbeing of all the societal
members.

The Origins and Development of Sociology of Education

At the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century, many
educationists and sociologists could not reach a clear consensus on what
would be its meaning and function. The reason was how to marry a
seemingly well-developed scientific area of discipline. Sociology and an
‘non discipline activity called education. The debate went on until later
when two educationists cum sociologists, by the names of Emile
Durkheim and John Dewey were able to show that Education comprised
themes, conditions practices and characteristics that needed a
sociological understanding.
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Emile Durkheim was a Frenchman based in the Department of Science
of Education at the Sorbonne University in Paris. While there, Durkheim
was the Chairman of this Department and a lecturer and a trainer of
teachers. As a sociologist also, he was able to use this opportunity to
show how Sociology and Education could merge. In his contributions,
Durkheim theoretically emphasized that Education is.
(i) Social in Origin – meaning that it comes from society.
(ii) A social thing – that it is owned by society.
(iii) Social in character – that it reflects the behavior of society
(iv) Social in function – that it serves the needs in society.
(v) A social fact and activity – Full of facts and actions found in society
(vi) A socializing activity – plays a role in the socialization process in
society.
All these features of education in society needed to be ascertained, not
through heresy and speculations but instead, through the sociological
methods of actual observations as recommended by Auguste Comte.
Because of his contributions, Emile Durkheim is often honoured as the
‘father of Sociology of Education’.
John Dewey (1859-1952)
John Dewey was an American who was highly respected, and still is, for
his remarkable contributions in many disciplines such as Philosophy,
Psychology, Sociology and Education. In his contributions, John Dewey
began by getting concerned about the relationship between society and
schooling. In his concern he observed that,
(i) The simple community life structures in his society were rapidly
becoming complex one as more people migrated from the rural areas to
urban areas.
(ii) The school and church, all entrusted with the education of the
children could hardly cope with the rapid changes:
The children as learners would be inadequately facilitated to fit in the
new urban social life and ways of a rapidly/changing complex society;
therefore, a growing child risked facing utter confusion as he/she
became an adult in an urban environment. Therefore, Dewey saw a
problem, assessed it, and arrived at a conclusion.
He also found a practical solution by suggesting the beginning of a new
concept he called ‘the ideal school: The ideal school would prepare the
children to live in the American rapidly changing urban society through
(i) teaching them to develop a social spirit of cooperation in society
(ii) teaching them ways of eliciting this cooperation in the classroom
(iii) showing them the means of bringing the school into a relationship
with a child’s home and the general life in the neighborhood.
He saw the school as a child’s second home, a miniature society in
which the needs, hopes and interests of children and the expectations of
the larger society would be addressed.
In this type of school, the child’s social life would be prospered as
he/she grows. Ultimately, the society would be more improved.
Later Developments of Sociology of Education
Further development of Sociology of Education was contributed to by a
number of other people in later decades.
Briefly, these individuals and their contributions were as follows.
(a) Sir Fred Clarke: In the 1930’s Clarke is noted for having
emphasized that sociological knowledge be used when planning an
education program to enable it to produce citizens with characters that
are desirable in the society.
(b) Karl Mannheim: In the 1940’s, Karl Mannheim is noted for
suggesting that education be used as a social technique to socially
control and improve society.
(c) W.A.C Stewart: In the 1950’s, he proposed a course in the training
of teachers that was based on a basic knowledge of Sociology.
(d) Olive Banks; In 1968 Dr. Olive Banks strongly suggested that the
future of sociology of education lies in it being a branch of sociology
rather that education.
(e) Ivor Morrish: In his book, ‘The Sociology of Education: An
introduction, (1975), Ivor Morrish emphasized that the growth of
Sociology of Education in future, will depend on a close cooperation of
sociologists in education, especially those with practical experience in
the classroom or in some area of educational system, and educationists
particularly those with some training in Sociology. Morrish, did not see
so profitable to dwell anymore on whether Sociology of Education is a
branch of Sociology or of Education. Instead, it would be more
beneficial to be concerned with deciding which are the questions to
answer, or the sociological issues to examine in education.

Concerns or Issues for Sociology of Education

The definition of Sociology of Education, hinted the nature of the issues
or concerns in education that make up the content or scope of Sociology
of Education. it emphasized that their nature is or should be sociological.
This, in other words, means that since they are sociological, they can
come from society and affect education, e.g. drugs problem. Similarly,
 the issues or concerns can come from education and affect society, e.g.
lack of properly trained manpower, literacy vs illiteracy in society.
(a)Relationship between a society and its education system.
It is important to know or discover how and to what extent other social
institutions like the family, economy, politics and religion are involved
in the growth, maintenance, provisions, control and the general support
of the education activity and schools in particular. When these
institutions become weak, lax and destabilized, the institution of
education can and does suffer greatly.
(b) Functions and contributions of Education
The questions that sociology of education would examine in this concern
have to do with what the functions are, contributions, purposes or aims
of an educational system in society. In other words, what is education
for or aimed at fulfilling in a society? In answer to this question,
education is generally considered as having important functions, for
example, it.
i. Socializes those being educated.
ii. Transmits culture.
iii. Develops employable skills among those being educated.
iv. Brings about personality and behaviour changes.
v. Promotes the physical, mental, and moral growths.
vi. Brings about desirable changes in the economic, social, and
technological areas.
vii. Enhances social integration and national unity.
viii. Prepares and facilitate individuals to obey authority and laws in
society.
(ix) Empowers individuals to develop own ideas, opinions,
responsibility, decision making abilities and independent thinking.
Sociology of Education also studies the negative contributions of
education, such as
❖ Social stratification –
❖ Class formation.
❖ Ethnic and racial differentiation.
❖ Social control and acquisition of power by individuals.
❖ Acquisition of competitive instead cooperative attitudes in society.
These types of questions are the one that make this issue an important
source of concerns for Sociology of Education. The answers form
justifications for maintaining and supporting an education system in
society as well as the need to keep on assessing education so as know
where and how to change it.
(c) School as a Formal Social Organization
An organization is often defined as a social unit that is structured and
intended to carry out or pursue specific task(s). Therefore, because all
organizations are not structured to fulfill similar tasks, they are not
comprised of the same elements. But there are, however, some elements
which would be considered as the basic components in all organizations
that can be characterized as formal organizations.
Basically, a formal organization is characterized by these components:
(i) A group of people who are charged with fulfilling the task(s) of the
organization.
(ii) A hierarchical arrangement of positions in which individuals are
placed to fulfil the organizational tasks; the authority structure is vested
in the positions.
(iii) Assignment of activities, expectations, and behaviour to accompany
the positions within which activities are done.
(iv) A set of rules and regulations to govern how individuals will fulfill
the organizational activities, tasks, or routine work.
(v) Ways of guiding the decision making and the formal communication
systems.
(vi) The informal relationships between those in organization
(vii) The main goal of the organization to attain.
The question that Sociology of Education tries to answer is whether the
school, based on these characteristics, is a formal social organization and
how it fulfills its tasks. Answers to such questions are important for
Sociology of Education because they help to tell us about the value of an
education activity in society.

(d) The Teacher and the Teaching Activity

In the school organization or community, the teacher is described as the
‘adult representative of society’. This is a great honor. However, even
when a teacher is so honored, and the goal(s) of the organization is well
known, if the appropriate means and resources to carry out the
organizational activities are lacking, the goal(s) may not be realized.
❖ The teaching activity that the teacher carries out in school
distinguishes the school as a unique structure in society.
❖ The teaching that the teacher does in the school organization and
the ensuing interaction with the pupils forms a spearhead towards
the attainment of goal(s) of the school.
❖ The interaction requires that the teacher should play several roles
such as being an instructor, guide and counselor, evaluator, judge,
decision maker, leader, surrogate parent, and disciplinarian.
Since the roles are critical in the teacher’s socializing efforts, there is
need to adequately educate, train, and prepare the teacher professionally
so as to enable him or her carry out the teaching activities satisfactorily.
The teacher’s socialization activities have a purpose in society.
Therefore, taken together, the teacher and the teaching activities in the
school are important and require the proper kind of faciliatory support,
will and power and will from society.
If these are faulty or poorly provided, the society begins to blame the
school organization and its components. It is in this sense that the issue
of teachers and the teaching activity is a vital one for Sociology of
Education.
(e) The Learner’s Learning Environments
A growing child is inevitably taught by and learns from various
situations such as other children, parents, siblings, family, community
members, the school teachers and by observation. All these situations
form a learner’s learning environments. These learning environments
have the capacity
❖ To influence and determine a learner’s acquisition of mental,
physical, and social knowledges,
❖ Their present and future abilities; attitudes for interactions,
integration, and cooperation; behavior changes and personality
growth.
❖ Individual experiences and competencies as well as
discriminations.
The nature of the social environments is such that if there is keen
interest, coordinated efforts and adequate provisions, a growing child
will develop as a well-balanced, socially adjusted and emotionally stable
person ready to learn, benefit and lead a full life as a human being in
society.
If the social learning environments are such that there is indifference,
ignorance, social discord, improper family care, condoning of
permissive and deviant behaviour, lack of control and guidance, a
growing child is bound to grow as an ill-trained, ill-behaved person,
socially maladjusted, feeble minded uncaring individual, indifferent and
an irresponsible member of society. The ability and opportunity of such
a child to lead a full-life in society would be greatly impaired.
Because of how important these learning environments may affect a
learner’s well-being, it is necessary for the teacher or any educator to
understand and be aware of how and why the environments affect a
learner. It is in this sense that the issue of a learner’s learning
environments has become a great concern for Sociology of Education.
Concepts in Sociology of Education
Sociology of Education is a branch of Sociology. Education is a
phenomenon that occurs in human societies. Every society inevitably,
colours its education system with the various characteristics, behaviours,
needs, interests, purposes, expectations, and other factors that are found
in that society. All these are social phenomena that Sociology examines
using its own conceptual framework.
Because of such social factors, Sociology of Education utilizes the same
concepts as the ones Sociology uses when studying society. It uses
concepts like; Society, Culture, Socialization, Social Stratification,
Social Mobility, Social Interactions and relationships, Social position,
role and status. Other concepts include social change, Formal
organizations, Authority, Curriculum, Deviancy
Connection Between Sociology and Education
. the connection between sociology and education is found in .
(i) The origins of Sociology of Education
(ii) The similarity of concepts that Sociology and Sociology of
Education use
(iii)The fact that society is the target material for sociology and, also, it
is the source of an education system which Sociology of Education
studies.
(iv) Education, especially the schools, often serve as sources of data or
information concerning the various socio-educational issues. Sociology
and the other hand supply the needed and suitable research methods for
studying the issues

Importance of Sociology of Education to a School Teacher

(a) Introduces the schoolteacher to a new view-the sociological
perspective of understanding the total realm of education; that is the
schools, teaching activities, teachers, pupils and many other
components.
(b) Acquaints the teacher with the nature of the existing and upcoming
socio educational problems that may come into the running of the school
and the classroom.
(c) Enhances the teacher’s role in terms of knowing and being aware of
how he/she is doing especially in the classroom when interacting with
learners more closely; this is an opportunity for the socialization to take
place and not simply an exercise in passing on information.
(d) Enables the teacher to conceptualize the school community in its
entirety as an outgrowth of the larger society, in which there will be
conflicts, stresses, competition, agreements and disagreements; moments
of joy and sadness, expectations, attitudes, behaviour problems, norms,
likes and dislikes, successes and failures, disappointments, stars and
isolates; problems of cooperation, motivation, peer-identity, morality
and many others.
All these require that the teacher should expect and know how to deal
with them in ways that would contribute positively to the teaching-
learning activities and the smooth running of the school organization.
(e) Helps the teacher to acknowledge the social purpose of education
from a wider societal perspective and not from a narrow personalized-
self-interest approach
(f) Helps the teacher to view himself/herself as a change agent using
democratic resolutions instead of applying authoritarian and high-
handed commands
(g) Enables the teacher to learn more about and hopefully apply the
research procedures that Sociology of Education uses to obtain and
accumulate the dependable knowledge about education