The Sociology of Education: A Systematic Analysis is a comprehensive and cross-cultural look at the sociology of education. This textbook gives a sociological analysis of education by incorporating a diverse set of theoretical approaches. The authors include practical applications and current educational issues to discuss the structure and processes that make education systems work as well as the role sociologists play in both understanding and bring about change.

In addition to up-to-date examples and research, the eighth edition presents three chapters on inequality in educational access and experiences, where class, race and ethnicity, and gender are presented as separate (though intersecting) vectors of educational inequality. Each chapter combines qualitative and quantitative approaches and relevant theory; classics and emerging research; and micro- and macro-level perspectives.