ABSTRACT
This chapter describes selected sociological theories in education—past and present, achievement and opportunity gaps among learners and the hidden curriculum in education and schooling. It also describes the plurality of theories on the betterment of society through education into a framework that reflects how sets of theories feed into one another and how, through that process, new theories may emerge. The chapter explains what thoughts have emerged from theories of functionalism, critical pedagogy, and interactionism—each with their respective sub-categorizations—that have carried into or inform contemporary sociological theories in education. Identifying social inequities and inequalities among a nation-state's citizenry is ultimately concerned with addressing what in music education discourse is increasingly referred to as "social justice". All musics carry values that are celebrated by one group of listeners and performers, alienate another, and remain ambiguous to a third group as individuals respond to music's "inherent" and "delineated" meanings.
