The Bloomsbury Handbook of Theory in Comparative and International Education

tavis d. jules, Robin Shields, Matthew A. M. Thomas, Tavis D. Jules, Robin Shields, Matthew A. M. Thomas

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781350078772
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

This book offers a practical and approachable overview of central theories in comparative and international education (CIE). The chapters focus in depth on specific theoretical perspectives and seek to elucidate the histories, assumptions, and recent developments of these theories. The chapters also situate the theories within CIE, include specific case studies of theoretical application, and outline suggestions for further reading. Written by leading scholars from around the world, this is must-have reference work for anyone teaching, researching, studying, or working in CIE. The handbook includes chapters on a diverse collection of theories, including but not limited to: Structural-functionalism, Colonialism/Imperialism, Marxism, Human Capital Theory, Dependency/World Systems Theory, Post-Colonialism, Post-Socialism, Post-Foundationalism, Neo-liberalism, Neo-Institutionalism, Neo-Marxism, Policy Borrowing and Lending, Peace Theories, Human Rights, Constructivism, Racism, Gender, Queer Theory, Social Network Theory, Capabilities Theory, and Cultural Political Economy.

PART ONE

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Foundational Theories

The century following Auguste Comte’s (1865/2015) positivist vision for social sciences witnessed the emergence and consolidation of core social science disciplines—sociology, psychology, and anthropology—that each used a different focus and set of methods to understand social life. These disciplines were institutionalized in the structure of many universities, often organized as individual departments (or schools) within larger faculties or colleges of social science. Within these disciplines, scholars sought to develop a body of theory that would serve as a foundation for a research agenda. Following the model of the natural or physical sciences, these theories aimed to be parsimonious, using a minimal set of concepts and relationships to explain as much of the observed social world as possible. Furthermore, they sought to be generalized, applying to many or all social contexts and topics. In some cases, foundational theories offer a “grand narrative” (Lyotard, 1979/2004) that aims to explain most of human societies; Marxism and structural-functionalism are both examples of such an approach. Other foundational theories are more specific. For example, human capital theory offers an explanation of how education and skills relate to labor markets and national economic growth. However, even these more specific theories are foundational in the sense that they seek to explain a wide variety of phenomena from relatively simple principles.

Chapters in this section discuss these foundational theories as they have been used and applied in the field of CIE. As an interdisciplinary field, CIE has drawn upon and combined these theories within the literature it has generated (see volume introduction). While inquiry in comparative education dates to the turn of the twentieth-century or earlier, the application of these foundational theories to CIE lagged somewhat behind the disciplines in which they were developed (Altbach, 1991; Manzon, 2011). Moreover, while a definitive and exhaustive list of foundational theories in social science would never be beyond debate, this section discusses some of the most prominent theories in social science research, and those of particular import to the field of CIE, given its concerns with educational comparison, exchange, and development.

The section begins with Marcelo Marques’ discussion of structural-functionalism and its view of social systems as an interconnected organism. As Marques noted, “structural-functionalism understands society as a whole that is composed of interrelated parts and analyses social phenomena in relation to its functions that maintain order and harmony and gradually evolves from simple to more complex forms in equilibrium” (p. 23). This theory is arguably one of the most widely applied perspectives in social research. It is not surprising, therefore, that scholars, practitioners, and policymakers have utilized this theory—implicitly or explicitly—to help frame their thinking about education and the broader society. In this chapter, Marques outlines core concepts relevant to structural-functionalism as well as some of its most influential thinkers and advocates (e.g., Spencer, Durkheim). The chapter also traces its applications in CIE back to among the earliest work in the field, Marc Antoine Jullien’s Esquisse et vues Préliminaires d’un Ouvrage sur l’Éducation Compare, an immensely important CIE text. The chapter concludes with a case study centered on the presumed correlational (or causal) role of education for preparing graduates for the workplace.

Power over oppressed peoples has constituted another critical concern of research in the social sciences, and in Chapter 2 Tavis D. Jules, Syed Amir Shah, and Pravindharana Balakrishnan, discuss the intellectual origins of studies of imperialism and colonialism. They start from the premise that colonialization had diverse and uneven effects depending on the contexts in which it occurred. Thus, the chapter includes mention of various colonialisms and their impacts on educational processes. At its core, however, the subjugation of entire populations seeks to benefit those in power through systematic exploitation. Jules et al., therefore, show how schooling in colonized societies sought to maintain the power of imperial powers by changing the ways in which the oppressed perceived the nature and standards of knowledge. This chapter also sets the stage for a discussion of post-colonial theory (see Chapter 6), which has emerged as a core theoretical concept in more recent CIE scholarship and practice. Finally, the authors traverse the colonial history of Trinidad in a case study that shows how discriminatory policies resulted in an unequal system of education.

Power is also an essential aspect of relations between workers and employers, and in their introduction to Marxism in CIE, Robin Shields and Kalyan Kameshwara show how it seeks to understand societies by looking at their means of material production, labor, and the accumulation of surplus. As the authors note, Marx’s collective body of work is massive and spans more than 40 years, but his later writings on social philosophy are most central to research in CIE and constitute a theory of political economy, an “explanation of how economic, social, and political forces interact with one another” (p. 53). Key concepts addressed in this chapter include historical materialism, value and surplus, competition, and ideology, among others. These concepts and the theories they support have been and continue to be utilized extensively in education and social sciences research. Marx’s work has also led to analyses of schooling that emphasize its reproductive tendencies and the ways in which pedagogy and the hidden curriculum can maintain hierarchies of power, even as they may aim to break these down. A case study on higher education marketization highlights the ways in which Marxist theories have played out in action, particularly as most universities have pursued additional means of revenue in order to grow their institutions amidst declining support from the public sector.

In contrast to Marx’s largely societal perspective, Donna Tonini’s chapter on human capital theory looks at labor from the perspective of the individual in the labor market. Tonini shows how human capital theory expects returns to education in the form of better employment, but also that these returns do not always materialize in practice. Rooted in economic and sociological approaches, human capital theory “undergirds the policies and practices of many major international financial institutions that provide loans and grants to lower-income countries” (p. 70). For this reason, both the promotion and critique of human capital theory has been central in CIE scholarship. Chapter 4 also explains two related theories, signaling and screening, that seek to explain the value added to the workforce by an individual as the result of their educational, professional, and/or personal development. Current debates and critiques of human capital theory from within CIE are then explored, followed by a case study examining the shortcomings of human capital theory as it has been was applied to Tanzania since at least the 1980s.

Finally, Tom Griffiths’ chapter introduces dependency theory and world-systems analysis, both of which extend Marx’s theory of political economy to account for relationships between nation-states and long-term processes of globalization. Chapter 5 takes modernization theory as a starting point, noting how dependency theory and world-systems analysis provide alternative explanations for the dominant linear motifs of national development and advancement. Importantly, Griffiths also clearly distinguishes between dependency theory and world-systems analysis, which share some complementary elements but have different foci. Where dependency theory emphasized dependent relationships and structured inequality between countries and cultures, world-systems analysis extends to an arguably “more comprehensive and historical framework” (p. 91) that considers the whole world as involved in capitalist relations of power. Both theories have been employed extensively in CIE, and the chapter includes some specific examples from research across Africa, Europe, and Latin America. The chapter concludes with a case study on Cuba, where educational innovations can be interpreted through both theoretical perspectives in unique ways.

The perspectives described in this chapter all provide detailed and compelling explanations of how society works, and they have all been applied extensively in CIE and other social science disciplines over several decades. In addition, a grounding in these theories is essential in understanding the post-foundational perspectives that follow them (see Part 2) as well as hybrid and revised theories that have emerged more recently (see Part 3).

REFERENCES

Altbach, P. G. (1991). Trends in comparative education. Comparative Education Review, 35(3), 491–507.

Manzon, M. (2011). Comparative education: The construction of a field. Dordrecht: Springera.

Comte, A. (1865/2015). A general view of positivism. Translated by John H. Bridges. Abingdon: Routledge.

Lyotard, J-F. (1979/2004). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Translated by Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. Norfolk: Biddles.

CHAPTER ONE

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Structural-Functionalism
in Comparative
and International
Education

Antecedents, Developments, and Applications

MARCELO MARQUES

INTRODUCTION

Every single system of the human body plays an essential function in the survival of the body. The function of the circulatory system is to circulate blood around the body and to deliver oxygen and nutrients to organs and cells via the heart, arteries, and veins. The function of the respiratory system is to bring air in and out of the body through the lungs and the trachea. The interrelationship between both systems is paramount for the survival of the body. Apply this rationale to society and you find one of the most used analogies to understand one of the most prominent paradigms in social sciences. Structural-functionalism understands society as a whole that is composed of interrelated parts and analyses social phenomena in relation to its functions that maintain order and harmony and gradually evolves from simple to more complex forms in equilibrium. What is the role of education, religion, or economy in society? What is the relationship between them? From a structural-functional perspective, one of the primary functions of education and religion is to “socialize” individuals into their future roles (education) or common-shared morals and norms (religion) to ensure social cohesion in society. Therefore, both parts of the system play a significant role in other parts, such as economy, since education prepares and allocates human resources, and religion shapes work ethics and promotes a certain set of values within society. These are the questions and ideas that many have attempted to answer and develop throughout the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth-century. This chapter provides an overview of the origins and elaborations of structural-functionalism, taking into consideration the leading scholars that contributed to its development. Such an overview is followed by the application of structural-functionalism to comparative education, conclusions, further reading and a mini case study with the application of this theory.

OVERVIEW

Structural-functionalism can be understood as a school of thought that understands society as a self-regulating system of interconnected elements with structured relationships and observed regularities (Adams and Sydie, 2001). Sometimes referred to as simply functionalism, structural-functionalism emerged in the mid-nineteenth-century, and it heavily influenced sociological and anthropological thinking throughout the first half of the twentieth-century, including comparative and international education. It is often considered one of the primary schools of modern sociological theory, among conflict theory and symbolic interactionism, and it has influenced many scholars to date. Despite being heavily criticized from the 1970s onwards and considered a conservative theory nowadays, many of the ideas presented in structural-functionalism still inspire and guide ways of thinking and analyzing social phenomena.

According to Pope (1975), five different elements characterize structural-functionalism. The first one is related to the views that society is a whole composed of interrelated parts that form a system. A second idea that could be found in many works by different authors is that there is a tendency to understand society toward system equilibrium. The third dimension of functional analysis is concerned with the understanding of how society works and how social order is possible. A fourth characteristic sees structures in relation to their contributions to the perpetuation or evolutionary developments. A final one is related to the idea that social order is achieved through commonalities or consensus.

The birth of structural-functionalism is connected to larger intellectual and philosophical movements, such as the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment, that gradually institutionalized modern science throughout the nineteenth-century. Perhaps one of the most important figures for the early development of structural-functionalism is the French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857) and the ideas regarding the study of society and the positivistic method. The former encompasses the foundation of the fields of study of social statics, to understand the stability or the forces that shape society, and social dynamics, to understand the dynamism of social forces and what causes social change. Another important aspect is related to the development of the “law of three stages” in order to analyze historical sequences in society, more precisely in relation to the French society before and after the French Revolution. Therefore, a theological phase characterized French society before the French Revolution, where God assumed a causal explanation for the role of individuals in society. The metaphysical phase, immediately followed by the Frenc...