DOMESTIC SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS

Abstract

Sociology of education belongs to those disciplines that were formed and institutionalized later then the analysis of social structure, social mobility, social organizations, etc. However, there are highly different theories, existing in it, of the image of the object and norms of its research creation. It is not always are suitable those methods that made a good showing of themselves in other branches, namely, quantitative analysis methods. The «boundary» problems of the theoretical differentiation with the pedagogy, economics of education and demography has not been solved yet.This also concerns the formation and development of sociology of education and in Post-Soviet Ukraine. In essence, its formation begins only in the late 1960s, when philosophers, economists, lawyers, and teachers (based on the principle of «transparency» of interdisciplinary boundaries) began to carry out large-scale researches of the problems of the transition from education to work and professional self-determination and careers, ignoring the taboo of the Central Committee of the (Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU ).Currently, the education system is becoming a key point in strategies on ensuring inheritance in the environment of the highest strata, monopolizing by them their positions in society. In addition, with the development of sociology of education, its tasks are complicating. Moreover, helping the latter to find its true role – one of the most important challenges faced by scholars – those, working in this field of knowledge. This concerns both the goals and methods of both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the case. At the same time, it is impossible not take into account and that fact that every stage in the development of society requires a specific distribution of the population by the level of education.The institution of education by itself as if is «broken down» into an open function (task of mastering knowledge, skills and specialization) and a latent function (granting a person a certain status, recalling of social inequality).It is the second function is, above all, the sphere of application of the forces of the specialists-sociologists.Under current conditions (especially in a country experiencing an economic and political crisis), the unpredictability of the decisions and behavior of various social groups and organizations is increasing sharply. It also puts new challenges before social scientists, since it is impossible to study such a society through the doctrines generated by the age of the Enlightenment. A new state of the society demands new approaches.The peculiarity of the sociological approach to education is to analyze the interaction of subjects of education with material and spiritual production, with all spheres of social life. The main aim of the analysis of these relationships is to find the answer to the questions such as: to what extent education satisfies the needs of society and the individual, what is its effectiveness, that is, what functions does it perform? Partly, the talk on these functions was mentioned above. However, apparently, it will not be a mistake to mark the two main groups of social functions of education on the recalling of social life such as: an integrative and differentiating one.The modern idea on education as a social institution, its relationships with public spheres, needs and interests of individuals (i.e. the allocation of its functions) – all these give right to speak on a new philosophy of education. Moreover, tasks of sociology of education largely lies in the investigation of this new philosophy of the educational process.