Development, Democracy and Deviance in Contemporary Sociology of Education

Abstract

Three of the most important strands in sociology of education today are arguably sociology of development, sociology of democracy and sociology of deviance. They are not often put together, but global trends suggest a new combination of thinking which would lead to a more proactive role for sociologists of education. A sociology of development explores why a country is at a particular ‘stage’ of progress, stasis or regress; a sociology of democracy traces the discourses and policy trends which surround a political movement; and a sociology of deviance analyses the social values in any society by which normality and its opposites are delimited. The imperatives are that there is still little consensus about how a country should attempt to develop in the future; there is nonetheless an international movement towards democratization in many spheres of public life; and there is a continuing violence and lack of peace which threatens both of these, development and democracy.