In this article, the author presents his views on Mike Cole's and Heather Mendick's comments on his book titled "Education and Society: Issues and Explanations in the Sociology of Education." In his review, Cole stated that the author's critical realism is seen as an advance on Marxism, of which the author is dismissive. The author refutes that…

What is deemed to be socially relevant knowledge as it comes from social educational theorists and inquirers is not a singular conception. The prevailing notion that only pluralistic and relativist, or positivist epistemological concepts of truth adequately capture social education inquiry and products, and that claims to human action based on…

The critical examination of society's circumstances, institutions, and cultural predispositions and values can help detect problems and injustices and can suggest opportunities for improvement. Neo-Marxist critical theorists of the Frankfurt school are committed to work of this kind, but their perspective is informed by Marxian precepts, and their…

Suggests that neomarxism, the dominant form of radical reconstructionism, provides a less internally coherent concept of educational progress than do other major educational philosophies. Outlines epistemological differences between traditional Marxism and neomarxism. Includes 37 references. (SV)

Professors of educational administration are being pressed to hold one of three conflicting viewpoints about knowledge and practice: "behavioral science,""symbolic," or "critical." Using Rein's notion of stories, the author urges professors to debate these viewpoints among themselves but use stories to study…

This paper offers a critique of Evers' and Lakomski's 1991 book, "Knowing Educational Administration," and their discussion of neo-Marxist and critical theory. This paper argues that the science of educational administration is a historically contingent product of particular social forces and interests at a particular time. The kind of…

This paper addresses the social context of curriculum construction and development to show the relationship between school curricula and patterns of social organization control. The first section traces the history of the concept of curriculum based on sequence, prescription, and differentiation and links this concept to the prevailing ideology of…