Las teorías de la Modernidad Ref lexiva y de los Sistemas Sociales: aportes a la comprensión de las macrotendencias de la educación contemporánea

Abstract

This paper describes and analyzes some contributions from sociologists Anthony Giddens, Scott Lash, Ulrich Beck and Elizabeth Gernsheim, for the comprehension of the changes faced by society in general and the family in particular, with the transition of the Middle Age to the Modern Age and Post modernity. These thinkers represent the sociological theory known as the “Reflexive Modernization Theory”, from which they review and explain some of the traditional and emergent family functions, as a paradigmatic social entity. Based on some of their conclusions, new educational social demands are examined, with the purpose of reviewing educational tasks in this context. Some Luhmann theses about the origin of modern education and pedagogical technological deficit are reviewed, in order to point out some of the macro trends of contemporary education in the context of modernization.