Claims fundamental educational reforms of the past 10 years in the United Kingdom lack a strong sense of rationale. Discusses seven areas where a clear, broad vision of the purpose of education can serve as a guide in taking education policy and practice forward. (NH)

From the notion that people construct their realities, it follows that people are writers of the texts that they experience and call life, although in some scenes people may have greater or lesser authorship. In schools and educational systems, administrators have the power to write other persons' narratives. In creating educational texts, the…

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…

Outcomes Based Education (OBE) is viewed as a drastic break from current educational practices and a means of providing educational success for all students. OBE is also advocated as a practice that lead to educational inequity. This paper reexamines OBE from a multiparadigm perspective of organizations and educational administration. OBE is based…

The 11 papers in this book address, from a sociological perspective, a variety of contemporary educational reform issues in Great Britain. The papers examine the direction and role of sociological research in education. Sociology education has an important role to play in raising questions about the British educational system and its premises. The…

The role of schools in promoting a democratic social order is obscured by confused attempts to embed moral dialog in society and by the loss of communities wherein such discourse prompts social action. Schools can assist by realizing the full participative decision making that reconstitutes democracy as a cultural form. (CJH)

The basic concepts of the positivistic paradigm are traced historically in this paper from Aristotle through Comte, the Vienna Circle, empiricism, Durkheim, sociobehavioral theory, and organizational theory. Various concepts have been added, deleted, and transformed through positivism's history, but its fundamental basis has remained the same:…

This essay examines how themes emerging in the writing of New Left thinkers resemble those espoused by traditional American cultural conservatives. The views of Donald Davidson, a representative of the Southern Agrarian movement, concerning industrialization in the United States and the role of progressive education in socialization are discussed.…

Traces the history of education in America as it moved from a theological basis in colonial times to a current scientific basis. Explains that throughout history education has been the subject of much debate, and behind each proposal for school reform lie assumptions about the nature of the universe, human life, and society. (16 references) (MLF)

Reviews nine studies in the area of audience awareness and social cognition. Notes that these studies provide an interesting, though extremely incomplete, picture of the relationship between social-cognitive abilities and writing performance. (MG)

The application of a social theory perspective to an analysis of the concept of restructuring is the purpose of this report. Restructuring is a conjunctive concept that involves changes in a school district's pattern of rules, roles, relationships, and results. A systemic viewpoint examines the reciprocal interactions between structure and process…

After the Second World War, the field of cultural anthropology underwent an explosive development. Sociologists, psychologists, educators, and economists all added to the increasing interest in a discipline which began by assuming that culture is the foundation of social structures and that every institution manifests itself as a system of…

Assesses the relationship between law-related education (LRE) and delinquency prevention. Reviews theories of delinquency and relates these to the content and practices of LRE. Reports results of a national evaluation of the effectiveness of LRE in promoting law-abiding behavior and the factors leading to it. (JDH)

Reviews "Schooling and Work in the Democratic State" (Carnoy and Levin, 1986). Concludes that the book is a valuable tool for the analysis of conflicting demands on education within a democratic, capitalist society. (JDH)

Compares the theories and major points made by "Schooling in Capitalist America" (Bowles and Gintis, 1978) with "Schooling and Work in the Democratic State" (Carnoy and Levin, 1986). Concludes that Carnoy and Levin have improved on their predecessors' account of educational change and the complex functions that schools play. (JDH)