ABSTRACT
This chapter examines whether social theory-and, in particular, sociological approaches-can be mobilised to understand the leadership, management, and administration of educational institutions. Sociology, at its simplest, is the study of human social behaviour and its origins, development, organisation, and institutions. Weber's work on bureaucracy highlights the potential of sociology for the study of administration, as does the work of Talcott Parsons and many others. Richard Bates argued that the history of educational administration and leadership as a field of knowledge production and practice is evidence of what John Dewey observed as "the habit of regarding the mechanics of school organisation and administration as something comparatively external and indifferent to educational ideals". There is substantial potential in sociological approaches for advancing the understanding of the ways in which educational institutions go about their work, and because of the dynamic and contradictory nature of the social world, this is an ongoing and inexhaustible intellectual project.
