By identifying three main sociologies that characterise broad movements in the field since its inception, this paper provides a background to considerations of music education from the perspective of sociology. A fourth sociology is then proposed that may be useful to interrogate the complexities of the field of 21st century music education. This is termed a sociology of integration. Such a sociology fuses perspectives from within sociology itself and combines them with those of complementary fields, as relevant to the particular study under investigation. An illustration of the fourth sociology in action is made by presenting data from a recent study on informal music learning in two Canadian schools, interpreted through combined theoretical lenses including those of Bernstein, Levinas, Arendt, Ranciere and Biesta. The findings lead to an initial model of discourse production by students, speaking to important issues of democracy and inclusion in music education.