This collection offers a guide to the core issues in the field of sociology of education, drawing on historically-significant material as well as contemporary sources, and offering perspectives from varied and diverse scholarship from across the world. While education is a major policy preoccupation in both 'developed' countries and emergent economies, sociological knowledge about education is becoming more and more varied and dispersed, as new directions develop in response to older assumptions, and new and rapidly changing policy problems drive enquiry in different directions.



This major work responds to the challenge presented by diversity and differences of perspective in the field, drawing on a wide range of specialisms that allows researchers to 'see' the field clearly, to understand its development over time, and appreciate its enduring contribution to knowledge.



Volume One: Theories & Methodologies in use



Volume Two: Politics and Policy



Volume Three: Equalities & Identities



Volume Four: Pedagogies & Institutions