ABSTRACT
Few fields have profited as much from social history research as the history of education. Prior to the 1960s, most publications on the history of education were studies either of particular schools by devoted alumni or of education legislation. Since then, however, scholars have increasingly delved into the complicated relationships between schools and society, examining education’s contributions to social transformation, its response to societal change, and the social forces at work in the development of educational systems. Most of that research, however, has concentrated on the last two centuries, particularly in Europe and the United States. This article focuses mainly on the insights of that scholarship.
