ABSTRACT
The expansion of knowledge and the pattern of access to it are paralleled by the increasing differentiation of knowledge. The framework presented focuses on the principles of organization and selection of knowledge and does not directly suggest how these are related to the social structure. Durkheim’s specific writings on education apart from their emphasis on the social nature of curricula and pedagogy are not very helpful, though it is important to remember that these books are collections of his lectures to student teachers and not systematic studies in sociology. In placing curricular developments in their historical context, Raymond Williams’ approach is original and insightful. However, the inevitably schematic nature of the suggestions and the lack of substantive evidence leave us with speculations. Karl Marx himself wrote very little about education, though a notion of ‘polytechnical education’ which underlies the educational policy of the ‘communist’ countries can be found in one of his early speeches.
