This book is meant for the various people involved at different levels in the educational system of the contemporary society (politicians, managers, teachers, parents, educational projects creators, students) and provides them with the conceptual framework, the analytical methodology, research tools and guidance to understand the social factors that they should take into consideration when planning and performing their work.
It offers the proper conceptual tools and methodologies to perform a sociological analysis of the various subsystems of the education and to design educational programs suited to the social environment of the school.
The book follows the progressive differentiation principle, starting out with an analysis of the education system as a whole, followed by an examination of its main components, from large to small: the educational system, the educational establishments, the family, the classroom, the school groups and others.
Each of the book’s four parts helps the reader acquire the specific skills needed to research education from the sociological perspective. The first two parts familiarizes the readers with the macrosociology approach of education, allowing them to understand, for example, the way in which the everyday social behaviors in schools are influenced by the school policy of the time and the history of the entire educational system.
The third section, “The microsociology approach of education”, highlights the main social variables that impact the efficiency of the school as an organization, helping to understand why some schools are better than others, even if they apparently share the same environment.
The fourth section, “The school and the community”, covers the topics required for understanding the cooperation between schools and other educational establishments, mainly with the family and local community institutions.