Polarity in sociology of knowledge: the relationship between disciplinarity, curriculum, and social justice

Abstract

This paper examines two influential views within the sociology of knowledge, specifically in literature examining relationships between knowledge, curriculum, and social justice, located in the South African context of extreme inequality and poverty. The first emphasizes the role of disciplines in creating criteria of powerful knowledge, arguing that knowledge must be evidence-based, generalizable, and revisable. The second argues for the importance of the social origins of knowledge for reasons both of strengthening knowledge and creating curricula that foster confidence in young scholars. We then draw on what we see as the strongest claims of each view and explore the value they bring to thinking about knowledge and curriculum debates raised by community of practitioners within three disciplines in the social science – economics, education studies, and history. Our brief consideration of these disciplines reveals that different disciplines face specific challenges which transverse, in different ways, the polarity which characterizes the debate so far. Strong aspects of each view feature in the development of each of the three disciplines, some in negative ways. This is an interesting finding, which demonstrates that principled debates couched in epistemological terms, when applied to specific disciplines, do not remain as a simple binary.

Keywords:

• Knowledge
• curriculum
• disciplines
• social justice
• sociology of knowledge

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 There are at least three reasons for the contestations. The first is that the education system is in a well-agreed crisis, with the majority of South African students in primary education unable to read, write, or compute at the appropriate grade level (Spaull, 2013). Second, the history of apartheid, in which education was directly mobilized for oppressive social purposes, has lent urgency to these debates (Allais, 2014). And third, education is widely (and unrealistically) seen as the key vehicle for solving the structural economic problems of poverty and unemployment in South Africa (World Bank, 2018).

2 Some harsh and insulting commentaries can be found; these we would not repeat here.

3 As, for example, in the international ‘rethinking economics’ movement http://www.rethinkeconomics.org/

4 Sometimes called education theory, or sometimes just ‘Education’; we are referring here to what is generally the core curriculum in Schools or Faculties of Education.

5 The terms production, distribution, and reproduction in these three bulleted points derive from Basil Bernstein’s pedagogic device (Bernstein, 2000).

6 A study of Honours degree curriculum studies course shows proliferation of generic (critical thinking; problem solving) and progressive knowledge modalities (child centred, situated and anti-formal instruction), at the expense of knowledge specialisation of subject matter and or pedagogy (see Muller & Hoadley, 2018).

7 Kvernbekk’s and Terhart’s research also points out the domination of the research field by economists and political scientists whose interest lies in large data sets of empirical research, in research which uses randomized control trials to show ‘what works’, with little engagement with educational research and theories.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yael Shalem

Yael Shalem is an associate professor of education at the Wits School of Education. Her research interests include professional knowledge, curriculum, teacher education and teacher work. Her recent book is Knowledge, Curriculum, and Preparation for Work, co-edited with Stephanie Allais (Brill Sense, 2018). She is one of two editors (Yael Shalem and Shirley Pendlebury) of Retrieving Teaching: Critical Issues in Curriculum Pedagogy and Learning, which was written in memory of Wally Morrow, the founder of educational theory in South Africa.

Stephanie Allais

Stephanie Allais is Research Chair for Skills Development, and professor of education at the Centre for Researching Education and Labour at the School of Education of the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research interests are in the sociology of education, policy, education and development, curriculum, and political economy of education, focused on relationships between education and work. Her recent book is Knowledge, Curriculum, and Preparation for Work, co-edited with Yael Shalem (Brill Sense, 2018). Another book, Selling Out Education: National Qualifications Frameworks and the Neglect of Knowledge, was published by Sense in 2014. Until recently she has been special advisor to the Minister of Higher Education and Training, has served on many committees by appointment of ministers of education in South Africa, and has been involved in numerous policy processes.