Basil Bernstein

"The book provides a detailed yet clear introduction to the sociology of Basil Bernstein that will be accessible to those not already familiar with it, but also of interest to those who are. It locates his thinking within the history of the field of British sociology in his life-time, explores the classical sources in Durkheim and Marx, and shows how a world-wide network of scholars continues to apply and further develop his ideas. His later ideas about knowledge structures are applied to Bernstein himself in terms of a historical analysis of the fields of British sociology and the sociology of education and his position within them. The book is, in this way, about British sociology and education as well as about Bernstein and intends to provide a provocative and challenging account of both. The book is organised in four main sections that deal with: theory, research, control and pedagogy. It explores the major areas of his work and shows their inter-relatedness and their development over time. Although Bernstein had a special interest in education, he did not see himself a sociologist of education alone. His was a broad and wide-ranging programme in the social sciences and it is in these terms that his work is presented in this book"-- "Basil Bernstein: the Thinker and the Field provides a comprehensive introduction to the work of Basil Bernstein, demonstrating his distinctive contribution to social theory by locating it within the historical context of the development of the sociology of education and Sociology in Britain. Although Bernstein had a particular interest in education, he did not see himself as a sociologist of education alone. By exploring Bernstein's intellectually collaborative character and the evolving system of ideas, drawing upon anthropology and linguistics, the originality of Bernstein's contribution to the social sciences can be truly identified. Rob Moore's text offers a provocative and challenging account both of Bernstein, and of British sociology and education, approaching Bernstein's work as a complex model of intertwining ideas rather than a single theory. Continued interest in Bernstein's work has opened up a world-wide network of scholarship, and Moore considers contemporary research alongside classical sources in Durkheim and Marx, to provide a historical analysis of the fields of British Sociology and the sociology of education, pinpointing Bernstein's position within them. The book is organised into two main parts: The Field Background and Beginnings Durkheim, Cosmology and Education The Problematic The Structure of Pedagogic Discourse Bernstein and Theory Bernstein and research The Pedagogic Device Written by a leading authority in the field, this text will be valuable reading for post-graduate students of sociology and education, along with active researchers and their research students"--

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Philosophy. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.