Addresses questions about how old social causes get revived, and how small, politically insignificant interest groups mount viable campaigns against dominant political views. Examines the strategies of two multifaith religious coalitions in Ontario, Canada, that are gaining political ground by reframing traditional arguments for religious…

Explores three factors that may explain why certain Asian-American groups have higher educational expectations than White groups: (1) favorable socioeconomic characteristics, (2) demonstrated academic ability, and (3) high parental expectations. Indicates that parental expectations explain a large portion of children's high expectations for all…

Examines whether U.S. Catholic schooling was a part of mass schooling as opposed to being labeled as private-elite. Explores how urbanization and industrialization increased mass schooling, public and Catholic combined, after the Civil War to the 1930s. Discusses the findings in detail. (Contains 80 references.) (CMK)

Examines the relationship of feeder patterns, or transition between levels of schooling, students follow from middle to high school with their academic success as freshman. Finds that students who excelled in middle school benefited from attending the same high school as their eighth-grade classmates, while those struggling benefited from…

Presents a theory of collegial social control of teacher's instructional beliefs and practices that centers on the idea of "collegial focus." Examines whether social control affects teachers' practices, if collegial focus strengthens social control, the role of subject-matter specialization, and the effects of bureaucratic control on collegial…

Presents a study of parents' involvement with their children that reveals how some black parents, concerned about the legacy of discrimination against blacks in schooling, approach schools critically. Extends the results to a theoretical discussion of interactions of moments of inclusion or exclusion with activation of social and cultural capital.…

Examines the independent effects of residential and educational mobility for students who move to a new home but do not change schools, change schools but not homes, and change both. Finds indications of negative short-term effects of mobility early in high school coupled with important long-term education benefits. (DSK)

Cites studies that show that environmental effects on ability test scores and school attainment are welcomed, while ability is regarded as a social construct. Asserts that an account of cognitive socialization based on the work of Bernstein and Vygotsky would represent an advance in explaining social differences in educational attainment.…

Seeks an approach to pedagogy that sees sociology as a discipline with explicit moral concerns. Draws on data from a case study of undergraduate students taking courses in social theory. Presents a model of generalized and concrete other which provides a framework for understanding sociology and its teaching methods. (Author/PAL)

Uses Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse to examine interview accounts of educational disadvantage provided by Samoan paraprofessionals in secondary schools in Queensland (Australia). Finds that Samoan paraprofessionals attributed educational disadvantage to the arbitrary organization of students, knowledge, and spaces in schooling…

Examines experiences of part-time teachers and the meanings they attribute to them. Draws on data from contact with university sociology departments (n=12). Concludes that academic sociologists should take a moral and practical interest in part-time teachers because they are implicated in the reproduction of sociology and sociologists. Provides…

Draws on data from schools in Scotland (n=25) to consider how teachers talk about sex education and look at the factors that shape provision at the school and teacher levels. Finds that four interrelated factors are important in understanding the provision of sex education in the classroom. Provides references. (Author/PAL)

Argues that the question of knowledge must be reconceptualized in order for sociology to make its potential contribution to current debates about the curriculum. Reviews dominant assumptions underlying contemporary curriculum policy. Draws on recent research in the sociology of science to develop a social realist approach to knowledge. Provides…

Reviews the lack of sociology in the academic curriculum. Interviews women academics who introduced interdisciplinary women's studies degrees in the United Kingdom and North America. Argues that the power of established disciplines to incorporate new knowledge illustrates how academic knowledge and institutions maintain their essential…

Discusses Logo, an education philosophy and accompanying family of programming languages. Explores Logo in the institutional and organizational cultures of United States and United Kingdom mainstream schools after its introduction in the early 1980s. Addresses how Logo was received in the educational arena and implicated in the politics of…