100 Years of Chinese Sociology of Education:A Summary of Its Discipline Theories

The discussion about sociology of education as a discipline covers two main fundamental areas:the factors and history of the discipline,the former of which include subject matters,methodology and subject nature.The academic discourse concerning the discipline of sociology of education in China over the past 100 years can be captured by the following four phrases:1) one relevance,i.e.the value-relevance of methodology;2) two doctrines about the subject matters,which refer to socialization process and between society and education;3) three theories about the nature of the discipline,which is reflected in the tensions between a value-driven approach,a fact-driven approach,and a hybrid approach;4) four stages in the history of the discipline,which include establishment,stagnancy,reconstruction and transformation.The article further examined four confusing issues in the disciplinary inquiry of sociology of education of China with historical materials and comments: 1) dominating views regarding the subject matters as relationships between society and education actually can not explain the unique characteristics of sociology of education;2) the doctrine on the subject nature which has emphasized on factuality is indeed untenable;3) the common expressions that divide the subject history into three parts are somewhat sketchy;4) the expectations to integrate different perspectives are more difficult to act than they are suggested.