ABSTRACT
Centrally, the problem of the so-called sociology of education is that, although most political and policy questions about education relate to the purposes and effects of education, this chapter focuses mainly on the study of stratification and organization. It is obvious that educational sociology concerned with knowledge and culture can be pitched at different levels. Expressive beliefs are related to evaluative beliefs in the sense that the political context of expressive beliefs assumes both a definition of the power structure and a substantive control mechanism to allow research to take place. Some of the confusion accompanying the contemporary debate on British education can be seen as stemming from real problems in the definitions of education in its societal context. The central feature of an educational system is the control of knowledge. This control is both societal and international as well as internal to the educational institutions themselves.
