Domination and Assertion Towards a theory of educational change

Abstract

In the sociology of Max Weber, the history of any social institution corresponds to the constant interplay of a dominant and an assertive group and their supportive ideologies. While Weber himself posited the relevance of such interaction for the study of educational change, he limited himself to the description of historical stages in this process without attempting to account for their sequence. To do so requires a specification of the necessary condition for successful educational domination or assertion by any group. The factors of such domination over the social institution of education may at times coincide with those required for social domination–defined as domination over the main institutions of a society. This coincidence will depend on the degree to which education is integrated with other social institutions. When education is largely unintegrated with such institutions, the group dominating it will tend to be distinct from the ruling group in society. A corresponding statement can be made about assertion. However, as education is never completely autonomous, a theory of educational change (1) necessarily goes beyond this institution to the extent to which it is integrated with others.