Schools and Societies provides a synthesis of key issues in the
sociology of education, focusing on American schools while offering a
global, comparative context. Acknowledged as a standard text in its
first two editions, this fully revised and updated third edition offers
a broader sweep, stronger theoretical foundation, and a new concluding
chapter on the possibilities of schooling. Instructors, students, and
policymakers interested in education and society will find all
quantitative data up to date and twenty percent more material covering
advances in research since the last edition.
This book is distinguished from others in the field by its breadth of
coverage, compelling institutional history, and lively prose style. It
opens with a chapter on schooling as a social institution. Subsequent
chapters compare schooling in industrialized and developing countries,
and discuss the major purposes of schooling: transmitting culture,
socializing young people, and sorting youth for class locations and
occupations. The penultimate chapter looks at school reform efforts,
drawing for the first time on comparative studies. A new coda ends the
book by considering the educational ideals schools should strive for and
how they might be attained. This third edition of Schools and
Societies delivers the accessible explanations instructors rely on with
updated, expanded information that's even more relevant for students.
