Bringing Knowledge Back In

Bringing Knowledge Back In is a book that tackles some of the most important educational questions of the day. It is rare to find a book on education which is theoretically sophisticated and practically relevant, and this book is one of those rare exceptions. Michael Young discusses the changes in his own thinking about the question of knowledge in education since his earlier books Knowledge and Control and The Curriculum of the Future, and argues for the continuing relevance of the writings of Durkheim and Vygotsky and the unique importance of Basil Bernstein's often under-appreciated work. He illustrates the importance of questions about knowledge by investigating the dilemmas faced by researchers and policy makers in a range of fields, and also considers the broader issue of the role of sociologists in relation to educational policy in the context of increasingly interventionist governments. In so doing, the book provides conceptual tools for people to think and debate about knowledge and education in new ways, and makes explicit links between theoretical issues and practical /policy questions. It will be essential reading for anyone involved in research and debates about the curriculum as well as those with a specific interest in the sociology of education.

'This book tackles some of the most important educational questions of the day...It is rare to find a book on education which is theoretically sophisticated and practically relevant: this book is.' From the Foreword by Hugh Lauder What is it in the twenty-first century that we want young people, and adults returning to study, to know? What is it about the kind of knowledge that people can acquire at school, college or university that distinguishes it from the knowledge that people acquire in their everyday lives everyday lives, at work, and in their families? Bringing Knowledge Back In draws on recent developments in the sociology of knowledge to propose answers to these key, but often overlooked, educational questions. Michael Young traces the changes in his own thinking about the question of knowledge in education since his earlier books Knowledge and Control and The Curriculum of the Future. He argues for the continuing relevance of the writings of Durkheim and Vygotsky and the unique importance of Basil Bernstein's often under-appreciated work. He illustrates the importance of questions about knowledge by investigating the dilemmas faced by researchers and policy makers in a range of fields. He also considers the broader issue of the role of sociologists in relation to educational policy in the context of increasingly interventionist governments. In so doing, the book: provides conceptual tools for people to think and debate about knowledge and education in new ways provides clear expositions of difficult ideas at the interface of epistemology and the sociology of knowledge makes explicit links between theoretical issues and practical /policy questions offers a clear focus for the future development of the sociology of education as a key field within educational studies. This compelling and provocative book will be essential reading for anyone involved in research and debates about the curriculum as well as those with a specific interest in the sociology of education. Review: 'Bringing Knowledge Back In provides a much-needed challenge to the pessimism of the postmodernists, to the relativism of the constructivists, and to those critical theorists who regard emancipation as but a consequence of having been exposed to emancipatory critiques...[Young] makes a very compelling case for social realism, and brings together in a most original manner a range of important epistemological and sociological perspectives, and the book relates them to a commendably wide range of current policy and practice.' - British Journal of Sociology of Education