ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I examine the question of whether social theory-and, in particular, sociological approaches-can be mobilised to understand the leadership, management, and administration of educational institutions. This may seem an odd question to pose, given that orthodoxy in both scholarly and lay communities establishes and sustains both educating and leading as social activities, yet social theory remains marginalised in educational leadership, management, and administration despite a well-established sociology of education and a sociological tradition of organisational studies. Sociology is, however, a large and intellectually diverse scholarly discipline. Given the brevity of a chapter, I pay particular attention to critical social theory, especially that rooted in French social thought, to describe its history, outline current usage, and provide a (not the ) means of mobilising a sociological approach for the scholarship of educational administration and leadership.
