Bringing knowledge back in : from social constructivism to social realism in the sociology of education

What knowledge will citizens need in the future? In this new book, Michael Young builds on ideas developed initially in Knowledge and Control and The Curriculum of the Future and argues that policy emphasis on lifelong learning should shift from questions of access and participation to questions of knowledge and pedagogy.

He stresses the importance of the question of knowledge in education and explores its implications both for theory in the sociology of education and for educational policy.

The book is divided into three sections: Section 1 challenges the prevailing orthodoxy of post-modernism in educational theory, which reduces all questions of knowledge to practice.

It draws on the work of Durkeim, Bernstein and Vygotsky.

Section 2 applies the ideas developed in the first section to issues such as lifelong learning, key skills, social exclusion and the reform of vocational education.

Section 3 questions the role of sociology in influencing educational policy.