ABSTRACT
It is becoming increasingly recognized that Durkheim was not just one of the founding fathers of sociology but the founder of the sociology of education. As a pioneer of the subject, he was firmly convinced ~ and an example of this is in a review which follows (1904a(40) and (41)) ~ that educational theory must not only be informed by psychology but by sociology as well. When he was writing at the end of the nineteenth century, educational theory was dominated by psychological analysis. Durkheim always admitted the validity of psychology but held that a psychological explanation had to be given within a certain social context. Education is predominantly a social matter which is governed by social needs and social ideals. He therefore stood opposed not only to those who gave pride of place to psychology (see, for example, 1905f(2)) but also to those who stressed the primacy of the individual in education, such as H. Spencer, J. S. Mill, and even Immanuel Kant whom he appeared to admire in so many other ways. For them the object of education was above all else the fullest realization of the distinctive attributes of the individual (1922a:4/t.1956a:30). If one adopts a purely individualistic ideal then clearly psychology has a supreme place to play within the theory of education. But Durkheim 's point is that the amount of education that is given, to whom it is given, what is taught, the milieu in which it is taught, are all matters controlled by society and therefore in the past and in the future have been and will be determined by socio-historical factors. Education, in short, is a function of the social organization of society.
