Class Sociology of Education

The Curricular Unit of Sociology of Education aims to enable students to acquire the theoretical, methodological and practical knowledge necessary for a sociological analysis of educational contexts and processes in contemporary societies, through the development of skills and competences to:

• Contextualize the emergence of Sociology of Education in time and space;
• Knowing approaches and issues dealt with in the main classical works of Sociology;
• Use sociological thinking, based on critical and analytical reflection and the debate of ideas.

A. Contemporary societies, social change and education

1. The social construction of the importance of education: precursors and founders
2. The school as a modernity project
3. Literacy and schooling processes and the emergence of the mass school
4. Democratization of education and challenges of the new post-war economic and social order

B. The social dimension of education

1. Education, social cohesion, equality, and democracy
2. Education in formal and non-formal contexts

C. Access to education and school success and failure

1. Social mobility and meritocracy: possibilities and challenges
2. Resource and opportunity inequalities, social reproduction, and selection: explanatory theories
3. Role and relationship of the school with families and the community

D. Recent developments and issues in the field of sociology of education

1. The meaning and social function of knowledge and school
2. Global, regional, national and local education challenges

Lectures, which require the active participation of students, through:

1. Presentation of summaries of given material;
2. Presentation of individual work and group work;
3. Debates of ideas, which aim to develop the critical perspective, verified in the writing and oral presentation of the works.

Joint analysis of contemporary educational issues, based on the presentation and discussion of texts, to:

1. Foster the capacity for interpretation and exposition, reflection, critical analysis and debate of ideas;
2. Stimulate the ability to identify, characterize and problematize educational phenomena, contextualized and framed in time and space;
3. Participation in a scientific event - seminar, conference, congress or Open Class, in the face-to-face or virtual modality;
4. Study visit(s).

1. Althusser, L. (1999). Sobre a reprodução. Editora Vozes.
2. Berger, P. e Luckman, T. (2004). A construção social da realidade. Um livro sobre a sociologia do conhecimento (2.ª ed.). Lisboa: Dinalivro.
3. Bolívar, A. (2003). Como melhorar as escolas. Estratégias e dinâmicas de melhoria das práticas educativas. Porto: Edições ASA.
4. Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J.-C. (1992[1970]). A reprodução. Elementos para uma teoria do sistema de ensino. Rio de Janeiro: Livraria Francisco Alves Editora S.A.
5. Durkheim, E. (2007). Educação e sociedade. Lisboa: Edições 70.
6. Giddens, A. (2000). Sociologia (9.ª Ed.). Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
7. Justino, D. et al. (2014). Atlas da Educação - Contextos Sociais e Locais do Sucesso e Insucesso. Portugal, 1991-2012. Lisboa: Cesnova.
8. Ramalho, H. (2020). Meritocracia escolar e suas influências na condição de jovem dos alunos da escola pública portuguesa. Sociologia on line, 24, pp. 27-63.