Bernstein Course Sociological Research

Basil Bernstein is one of the most creative and influential contemporary British sociologists. Yet his works-especially those relating to language and social structure-are widely misunderstood or misinterpreted. Through the analysis of his sociology of curriculum, this paper may aid us to understand Bernstein's theory better and overpass the obstacles.In terms of the classification and framing, this paper attempts to analyze the sociology of curriculum of Basil Bernstein, including the codes theory. It is composed of four parts:Chapter 1 tries to trace back to the origin theory resources in the aspects of sociology, linguistics, and his life background. In this part, the theory of mechanic and organic solidarity of Durkeim, the capital theory of Pierre Bourdieu are discussed in great details; the linguistic theories of Chomsky and Halliday are also mentioned. All the above theories play an important role for shaping of Bernstein's theory.Chapter 2 mainly introduces the main frame of the sociology of curriculum of Basil Bernstein in the following perspectives: curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation. As a whole, the three parts should be one. But to be more coherent, I analyze it in the following sequence: for curriculum, a comparison is made between collection type and integration one; for pedagogy, the visible and invisible pedagogy is concerned.Chapter 3 considers the international influence of the sociology of curriculum of Basil Bernstein. The theses of the contemporary well-known scholars in Britain, USA are in great debt to him. In this chapter, the theories of Michael Young, Michael Apple, Lisa D. Delpit are chosen to discuss in detail.Chapter 4 focuses on the social issues in the pedagogic reform in China, with an offer some perspectives to concern in the educational reform for the new century. In this part, the qualitative research is carried out, through the analysis of some phenomena, we should pay attention to the monopoly of urbanization in the educational reform. Also some measures are suggested to solve the problems, such as the cultural compensation system and new financial policy of education should be brought into full play.