Beyond the Micro–Macro Opposition: The Multidimensionality of Educational Processes

Abstract

Sociological observations on education are not focused on educational processes but on the education-society relationship or the relationship between educational ideals and practices and society. In the complex scenario of a global society where different dimensions mingle with one another, the sociology of education has many relevant objects, and by using the observations of the transformations in the education-society relationship. In fact, in the field of the sociology of education, theorists have proposed several interesting approaches. In this chapter, we refer to three classical approaches of sociology of education—functionalist, conflictualist, and interactionist-communicative—and to the theory of morphogenesis. The latter is a key theory in understanding the relationship between education and society because the socialization process depends on the interaction with the real world; therefore, the education systems, such as society, must be studied as what they become after taking their shape (morphogenetic cycle), rather than what we want them to be. The morphogenetic cycle, in its general form, is characterized by structural conditioning, social and cultural interaction, and structural elaboration; it must be applied to culture and education in order to maintain the peculiar character of our work. The study of the dynamics connected to the education-society relationship cannot be resolved by a simplistic analysis: the multidimensionality and multi-contextuality of the conduct of everyday life requires a meso-analysis of the educational process and therefore the overcoming of micro–macro opposition.