Abstract
This guide accompanies the following article: Fevre, R., Guimaraes, M. I. & Zhou, W. “Parents, individualism and education: three paradigms and four countries”, Review of Education, https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3204 Common explanations of the global expansion of education are a good fit with one of three paradigms: neoinstitutionalism, political economy, or functionalism. This article puts them to the test by analysing the internal logic, contradictions and predictions of each paradigm in three areas: parental influences on children’s experiences of education (broadly defined), the meaning and role of the notion of individualism, and the underlying changes in society of which educational expansion is an expression. We then test each paradigm with empirical evidence on parental influences from four countries around the world. We conclude that, while the most promising research has been conducted within the political economy paradigm, developing a nuanced understanding of individualism is crucial to our understanding of the role of parents in global educational expansion.
Highlights
The neoinstitutionalist paradigm struggles to understand why parenting should play a role in the global expansion of education
While the most promising research has been conducted within the political economy paradigm, developing a nuanced understanding of individualism is crucial to our understanding of the role of parents in global educational expansion
In Portugal, there is a need for research on the connection between the strong sentimental individualism uncovered in our research and the social movements following the Carnation revolution, and those involving resistance to neoliberalism, especially after the elections of 2011
Summary
The neoinstitutionalist paradigm struggles to understand why parenting should play a role in the global expansion of education. The. neoinstitutionalist conception of individualism hampers any attempt to explain variations in international experience. The political economy paradigm is better equipped to acknowledge differences between superficially similar countries. The most promising approaches trace these differences to the actions of classes, governments and social movements within these countries. A political economy which identifies more than one type of individualism, and the importance of social movements to these types, may be of further help in explaining dynamic international differences in parental influence. The functionalist paradigm struggles to accommodate international differences in the way that conjugal families socialise children for places in the occupational order. Attempts to adapt the functionalist paradigm to evidence of international differences threaten its foundations by denying that variations in parental influence are determined by the degree of complexity of the division of labour
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
