http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3287-0003
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Abstract
This paper presents an account of the development of the sociology of education in the UK, by means of an analysis of papers published in the field’s flagship journal, the British Journal of Sociology of Education and its US equivalent, Sociology of Education. In particular, we examine the representation of two contrasting traditions in addressing social inequalities: ‘political arithmetic’; and the more recent ‘cultural turn’. We find that in the UK, the cultural turn dominates; whilst in the US, it is political arithmetic which does so. In accounting for these contrasting national profiles, we argue that they are underpinned by divergent social infrastructure and organisation. We also discuss some of the implications of the dominance of the cultural turn in the UK, specifically in terms of the relationship between the fields of academic research and policy and the development of a cumulative evidence base to address social inequalities in education.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the patience of the editors and for the criticisms of two referees, which have improved our discussion substantially.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 We acknowledge that there is an element of arbitrariness here. For example, some papers pursued more than one primary aim. In these cases, we have made judgements about which aim is prioritised.
2 We should emphasise that we do not intend this as a criticism of work reflecting the cultural turn. Along with many other sociologists of education, we recognize that the value of research should not be defined simply in terms of its influence on policy or even its potential to do so (cf. Biesta Citation2007).