Researchers, theorists, practitioners, and policy makers have shown interest in better preparing students to self-regulate their learning. In educational psychology, researchers have developed a number of pedagogical models and instructional strategies designed to facilitate students' self-regulated learning (SRL). This effort is demonstrative of the growing trend to make SRL more widespread and systematic within education, that is, to make SRL an institutional goal. In this analysis, four sociological perspectives are used--functionalism, neo-Marxism, symbolic interactionism, and cultural reproduction theory--to consider some of the complexities associated with institutionalizing SRL. These perspectives help to illuminate some of the conceptual nuances of SRL and the pedagogical complexities associated with teaching SRL. (Contains 2 notes.)