Paradigmatic Examination of Schools of Thought in Educational Sociology

Abstract

This article maintains that Kuhn's scientific philosophical outlook possesses important methodological significance for educational sociology research. The relationship between paradigms and schools of thought is not, as Kuhn has stated, that of a unique school of thought to a single paradigm. Instead, many different schools of thought and many paradigms coexist. The "new" educational sociology has broken out of this formula. However, few scholars have expounded on the relationship between paradigms and schools of thought. Some even put schools of thought with different ideas into a single paradigm, or separate a school of thought into different paradigms. To overcome this shortcoming, the author proposes an analytical framework that incorporates research, theoretical, and philosophical paradigms The scientific philosophical outlook of Thomas Kuhn (b. 1922) has had an important influence on research in contemporary natural and social sciences. His core concept-scientific community and paradigm-has been of major methodological significance for the research of educational sociology. In modem educational sociology, the term "paradigm" is often used, and scholars use it for the analysis of educational soiAology schools of thought. However, very few scholars have expounded on the relationship between types of paradigms and schools of thought or on the paradigmatic frame of reference for classifying schools of thought. Schools of thought with different ideas have even been put into one paradigm, or schools of thought have been desegregated into different types of paradigms. This study attempts to set up a paradigmatic framework for the analysis of schools of thought, in line with the traditions of educational sociology research.