Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an analysis and overview of extant literature which can be known as US radical sociologies of school knowledge (RSSK). It explains that the theory and methodology of RSSK have developed specifically in relation to struggles within academic fields, and that for radical educational scholars in the United States. The book demonstrates that the Structural Neo-Marxist framework initially adopted by RSSK is self-contradictory. It assesses the relationship established between radical educational theory and "mainstream" educational research on three levels the philosophical, the political, and the social. The book focuses on identifying weaknesses in the relationship which radical sociologies of school knowledge have established between themselves and mainstream educational research. It outlines briefly an assessment of current theories available to sociologies of school knowledge and proposes a working theoretical framework for a research agenda.