Education in Sociology Study - Research Paper Example

? Education in Sociology EDUCATION IN SOCIOLOGY   The scientific social study of the society is known as sociology. It is basically one of the social sciences; the study about the social worlds in which humans live. As sociology is the study of the society, it is concerned with humans and how they perform within a society with others and their social activities (Comte & Auguste, 2005) Human behavior is complex, and therefore, sociology includes various studies of diverse subjects such as economic, political and religious. The education in sociology attempts to determine the laws which govern the human behavior in the social society. Education in sociology ranges from small levels, that is from micro levels to big ones, that is the macro level (Giddens, Anthony, Duneier, Mitchell, P, Richard & Appelbaum. 2007). Researchers have come up with various techniques to study the social science, which is the study of the society. These research methods range from being qualitative to quantitative. Philosophical approaches have also been sought to study the social behavior and hence the interaction of people. Moreover, as we advance in technology, the researchers have developed new mathematical models and calculations leading to the study of sociology; these studies mainly include computational modeling (Michael, Macy & Willer, Robb. 2002). Emile Durkheim (1858–1917) was responsible for developing the formal academic sociology. The first European department of Sociology was developed in the University of Bordeaux in the year 1895 by Durkheim. Durkheim described sociology as the science of different institutions (Emile, Durkheim. 1895). Areas of sociology include human ecology, social changes, population and social psychology. Sociology and the social sciences which are used simultaneously include various subjects as already mentioned; it also includes political sciences, history, geography and communication sciences (Ferris, Kerry & Stein, Jill. 2010). Socialization  provides an individual with all the skills required for him to socialize within a society and share different customs and norms. Socialization is extremely important to maintain one‘s culture and social integrity (Clausen, John A. 1968) It is well known that our society is divided into different classes according to the socio-economic terms; division is mainly made into three classes which are called as first, second and third class. This is part of sociology and a very important one which is termed as social stratification. This leads to many social problems including complexities and teen suicides (Saunders, Peter. 1990). The study of the relationship between human thought and the social context is known as the sociology of knowledge. The study of science as a social activity is involved in the studies of sociology of science (Joseph, Ben-David & Sullivan, Teresa. 1975) The sociology of education concerned with the schooling systems, especially of modern industrial societies. It is mainly concerned with how different institutions and individuals affect education. It is also associated with expanding the education, that is further and higher education (Marshall, Gordon. 1998). The sociology of education is a very important field within sociology. It is also considered a part of the principle of education. This double existence is one of the unusual characteristics of the sociology of education. The sociology of education overlaps with various subfield like social stratification, race and ethnicity. The International Sociological Association is the largest research committee on the Sociology of Education. The sociology of education is also represented in different education associations. The sociology of education is often the source of tension between those who regard it as a science discipline and those who regard it as a policy-related discipline. Those who view the discipline as science use the term “sociology of education” and those who perceive it in political terms use the term “educational sociology” (Saha, Lawrence J. 2011) Education is perceived differently by people. Some consider it as a status symbol while for others it’s a means of optimism and progress in the society. Some also consider it as a basis of social equality but its very purpose lies in determining an individual by its full potential so that he may achieve to the fullest in his life (Schofield, K. 1999). Majority of parents believe that the school in which their children go to are doing well, but many also believe that the school system need to be reformulated and lacks certain elements. For example, many of United States schools are either too expensive or too unequal. Sociologist James Coleman in the year 1966 conducted a study in this field. He analyzed and studied the performance of over 150,000 students. It found that the student background together with the socio economic status of the students are much more important in determining educational outcomes than the measured differences in pupil spending (Hanushek, Eric A. 1998). There are many theories associated with the sociology of education. The tradition of politics within the field of sociology began in the year 1938 (Hogben, L. 1938). Many sociologists like Glass, Halsey and Floud worked on the school systems and their structures which had implications in the social society and were causing inequalities in Britain. Recently, the gender issue is also being pulled in together with other related issues in Sociology of education (Gorard, S, Salisbury, J and Rees, G.1999). The Structural functionalists believe that society has a tendency to lean towards equilibrium. They consider society like a human mass, in which education vital that keeps the society in equilibrium (Bessant, J & Watts, R. 2002). These structural functionalists strongly believe that social health is very important which is attained when children and teenagers socialize with each other. Hence, Socialization can also be called as away by which a coming generation learns different values and attitudes to make them moral citizens within a society they live in. Students learn social and society values as a result of their behavior at school (Sargent, M. 1994).  Jacob believes that the middle class cultural experiences that are provided at school may contradict to the home experiences of lower working-class children (A, Jacob. 2011). Working class children are therefore not properly prepared to cope up with society morals and standards at school which as a result lead to unemployment because of their lower qualifications. Many of the teachers believe that students will have middle class experiences at home, but this is not true. Many children of lower class families are expected to help their parents after school by doing various kinds of work. For example, some work in restaurants while others at petrol pumps. This becomes a pre requisite as parents of these children are incapable of earning handsome salaries. This labor proves to affect children’s school work, like home work and other presentations. This in turn affects their academic performances. Many students realize that there is little direct link between the subjects they are being taught and practically what are going to work for in the industry.  Noticing this issue, when teachers softened the formality of regular study patterns and allowed students the way they preferred to study, there was a noticeable increase in the strength of various students which was not noted before. (Wilson, B & Wyn, J. 1987). Despite the positive outcome, very few teachers deviate from the norm of traditional study patterns. The knowledge imparted in this way is not meaningful because it seems pointless when a student is not grasping the true essence of what is being taught to him (A, Jacob. 2011). lower class children face many difficulties as they need to work plus study, while upper class students have an edge on the lower class students because require little effort to maintain their position within a society. This also results in rich children performing better at schools as they get more time to study. On the contrary, many theorists believe that education is myth which requires attaining wealth and status and who so ever fails to do this, should blame oneself for it as others are not responsible for this. Many agree to this including Wrights which states that the effect of myth is to cease them from seeing their personal troubles and problems because they are apart from social issues.  Therefore, it is evident that students who are poor are basically victims of the sociology of education and the society itself. Paradoxical to the strengthening of studies, these reflect schools intention to create biasness and inequality based on class systems. (Sargent, M. 1994).   Talcott Parsons believes that as some students were educationally failed, this was a part of the system and education which performed as a whole. (Meighan, R. & Blatchford, Siraj. 1997). The conflict theory contradicts the above theory that is the functionalist theory. It believes that the society is full of various diverse social groups which have different needs and therefore, they gain different rewards in the social society (Furze, B & Healy, P. 1997). Generally, education helps a man to find his way out of a labyrinth of modern politics. Illiterate masses whose percentage is surprisingly large in our population, become very easy targets for manipulation by any modern political party. In contrast, there are only a few educated citizens who are capable of distinguishing truth from lie. Democratization of education in fact contributes to the education for democracy (Suzie, Nenad. 2011) Bernstein was one of the leading sociologists of the world. He had a deep influence on sociological research on education. He did years of empirical research in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world. The main part of Bernstein’s early work was to develop a model that examined the interrelationships between social class, family and school. Based upon empirical research, he developed some complex principles which described the speech of parents and their children. Although most of the research work on his theory was produced by his Ph.D students, but there were many other studies using his work. By 1996, Bernstein reported about fifteen articles in the British journal, sociology of education. These were all based on his own theory. Two published collections by Atkinson & Davies in 1995 provided many examples of how Bernstein’s work influenced internationally and to many educational researchers. Morais and Daniels have also edited articles on Bernstein’s research. It is clear that Bernstein developed a systematic code theory. This theory was constantly refined and also developed over the years (Bernstein, Basil. 2001). Sociology of education has contributed immensely to educational processes; as a source of information, plus training for teachers, and also for policy makers. The sociology of education focuses attention on the social issues, issues of the society as a whole for educational institutions like gender and race issues. The sociology of education is a growing and dynamic field. Mathematical models together with theory and different research methods are continually evolving (Saha, Lawrence J. 2011). WORKS CITED: Comte & Auguste (2005). A dictionary of sociology. Oxford University Press Giddens, Anthony, Duneier, Mitchell, P, Richard & Appelbaum (2007). Introduction to Sociology, Sixth edition. (Michael, Macy & Willer, Robb (2002). From factors to actors: Computational sociology and agent based modeling. Annual review of sociology. Emile, Durkheim (1895). The rules of sociological methods, 8th edition. Ferris, Kerry & Stein, Jill (2010). The real world: An introduction to sociology. Clausen, John A (1968). Socialization and the society. Saunders, Peter (1990). Social class and stratification. Joseph, Ben-David & Sullivan, Teresa (1975). Sociology of science. Annual review of sociology. Marshall, Gordon (1998). Sociology of education. Oxford University Press. Schofield, K (1999). 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