This article gives a historical-philosophical overview of three generations of pragmatist thinking centered around the question of democracy. It serves as an introduction and contextualization to the papers that develop a third generation pragmatic point of view in the remainder of the special issue. The perspective is from one American-trained…

In his posthumously published work on education, Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) described his approach to the sociological observation of the educational system as a formal one. Only by refraining from more substantial definitions, based on what teachers hope to convey, he claimed, can education be understood in all its historical and geographical…

This essay offers a new interpretation of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's landmark work of critical social theory "Empire." It develops an account of the politics of exile by situating this political strategy in terms of Hardt and Negri's claim that it is no longer feasible to confront capitalist power head-on. It attends closely to…

This article considers some theoretical resources for resistance to neoliberalised schooling and develops principles for reimagining the common school. Whilst relevant internationally, it is situated in the particular context of England, as a global epicentre of school reform -- a marketised and largely privatised system where the net of…

One strand in the scholarship of Catholic school identity perceives that it has deteriorated since Vatican II (1962-1965) and therefore needs restoration. Unfortunately, this perception is based on an assumption that there is a "singular" Catholic identity. This article demonstrates a basis in theology, social theory, and educational…

This study explores the changing mission statements of the University of Toledo and how those changes impacted the social contract between the University and city of Toledo. Specially, the study engages in historical and documental analysis and investigates three major moments in the history of the University of Toledo when Toledoans engaged…

In the 19th century, with the spread of nationalism movement, the power and capital on which the state was based changed, and man replaced the land. Mechanization and industrialization accelerated imperialism, and the application of the emphasis on competition in nature to social spheres in the theory of evolution became a means to legitimize…

This article narrates a parallel personal and professional journey of scholarly engagement with the field of the social foundations of education and its home in the American Educational Studies Association. It draws on Gloria Anzaldúa's (2000) notion of "conocimiento" as multileveled and connective knowings, and María Lugones's (2008)…

This conceptual article aims to clarify the important relationship between the fields of social foundations of education (SFE) and urban education (UE). We argue that SFE (a) enables more precise understandings of "urban" in one's preparation to practice in or conduct research with implications for urban schooling contexts and (b)…

I am grateful for this opportunity to reflect on the field of Social Foundations of Education (SFE), in part because it affords an opportunity to advance an historical analysis of the trajectory of the field different from what we provided when my colleagues and I sent to press the "Handbook of Research the Social Foundations of…

The premise of this brief opinion piece is that the fundamental paradigm of education appeared with Plato. It is that there is a co-location in time and space of learners, teachers, and resources. The absence of any of these elements can lead to shortcomings in the meaning of the term "to be educated". Recent events such as COVID-19…

The structure of higher education in China is characterized by a high degree of hierarchy as well as strong homogeneity, differing from not only American higher education, which features a high degree of both hierarchy and heterogeneity, but also higher education in continental Europe, which exhibits a low degree of hierarchy. Previous studies…

This paper explores the ways in which figurational sociology can offer a useful lens through which to understand the ongoing use of fitness testing as a means to physically educate young people. We contribute to a theoretical discussion around how physical education teachers have come to think about and enact fitness testing so pervasively.…

More progress is needed to achieve equity in racial and gender representation in the push to diversify the physical sciences. In order to continue moving towards representation and equity, there is a need for more analytic tools that can help us understand where we are and how we got here. This may also enable meaningful systemic change. In this…

New Caledonia is a French overseas territory in the South Pacific with a long history of differing attitudes towards independence (Fisher, 2019). The local government aims to challenge French cultural hegemony by building a "New Caledonian School" (Gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, 2016). That is, a school in which students are…