ABSTRACT
The foundation of a sociology of presence is first, in a rereading of social theory from a new, strategic vantage point that identifies the precursory elements of a new synthesis. Second, as the transition out of Puritan, Enlightenment sociology is described within a cultural movement, a new synthesis is also part of a wider cultural process, which requires some description; the culture which feeds emergent academic theory is itself part of a new historical age. Third, in such new circumstances, and with a strategic rereading of social theory, I try to outline the basic interests and direction of a sociology that goes beyond representation of the transition called ‘postmodernism’, into a new age and I explore what such a transfigured social theory might mean for theory and practice of education.
