SCHOOLING IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY: A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE POLITICAL ECONOMY AND CULTURAL CAPITAL THEORIES IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

This study has been a critical evaluation of the political economy theory of Bowles and Gintis and the cultural capital theory of Bourdieu. The major intent has been to determine the potentials and/or limitations of these two theories to provide an adequate theoretical framework to explain the dynamics and role of the formal schooling in industrial society. The study has been conducted in six chapters.The two theories in different ways argue that schooling in contemporary society serves to legitimize and reproduce the class structure of society. The two theories tend to complement each other in a general structural framework which can advance theory and research in the sociology of education. Limitations in each theory have been examined and theoretically clarified. It has been argued that such a structural framework should be supplemented by the work of culturalist and "new" sociologists.In the first chapter T. Kuhn's theory has been discussed and criticized, and a critical perspective of sociology of knowledge has been articulated and utilized to understand the current development of the sociology of education. Upon this discussion the problem of the study has been articulated. In the second chapter a critical model for evaluation of social theory has been articulated on the critical theory in social science of J. Habermas, K. O. Apel, M. Fay, and J. D. House. The positivist model of evaluation has been discussed and rejected scientifically and ideologically. The critical model of evaluation provided a conception of theory-structure and criteria for evaluation. According to the critical model the two theories have been presented in the third and fourth chapters. In the fifth chapter the two theories (1) have been compared and juxtaposed to each other, and (2) discussed and analyzed in light of theory and research in the conflict/critical paradigm. The sixth chapter has been a summarization and conclusion.