Equality and Achievement: An Introduction to the Sociology of Education

by Cornelius Riordan and Cornelius H. Riordan

Book Overview

This concise introduction to the sociology of education demonstrates that differences between and within schools, homes, and peer groups are related in systemic ways to differences in educational... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0130481777
• ISBN13: 9780130481771
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Pearson
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

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A good textbook that reflects the deficiencies of its discipline

I've used this basic text for a course in the sociology of education for master's students who have no background in sociology. They find it easy to read and informative. The author's decision to organize the text around the work of the late James Coleman makes sense. Coleman wrote a great deal, generated a good deal of controversy, and, in important part, determined the sociological agenda for nearly four decades. No one who reads this book can come away with the once-popular but all too facile disclaimer that schools don't make a difference. Look, for example, at Riordan's treatment of the literature on summer learning and the effects of schooling, and it becomes virtually undeniable that schooling effectively promotes achievement for all groups. On the other hand, Riordan is among those who, in my view, expect far more than schools can ever deliver. He acknowledges that schools are an equalizing influence, but sees them as deficient because they are imperfect in this regard. For Riordan, as for so many others in the era of No Child Left Behind, schools should close the gaps between groups based on class, status group, and race once and for all. I think exaggerated expectations reflect one of the major limitations of Riordan's text: it gives far too little attention to the social and economic context in which education is embedded. Riordan, as with Coleman and many others, fails to acknowledge that education is a secondary institution, over-shadowed and over-powered by the economy and polity. If we live in a world where good jobs are in increasingly short supply and class, status group, and race are important determinants of outcomes of all kinds, it is unrealistic to expect schools to fix things. Instead, they will very likely reflect the organization of their context. The second major limitation of Riordan's useful text is that it lacks the intellectual depth and conceptual richness that we find in Peter Berger's introductory volume Invitation to Sociology. In part this may be due to the fact that Riordan is less interested in theory than Berger. In part it may reflect the methodological individualism of Riordan's primary source of theoretical knowledge, James Coleman. More important, I think, is the fact that contemporary sociology in the U.S. has, for some time, been theoretically thin, based heavily on an unfortunately sterile empiricism. Whatever its limitations, this is a good and useful book. If used as a textbook for a sociology course, its limitations could be overcome by also requiring students to read monographs such as Jean Anyon's Ghetto Schooling and Paul Willis' Learning to Labor.