ABSTRACT
This chapter elaborates the major socio-political dilemmas that arise because of different and usually conflicting interpretations of basic educational concepts. The system and the action approaches posit antithetical views of human nature, of society and of the relationship between the social and the individual. The educational dilemmas which mirror major socio-political dilemmas are also reflected in a dilemma within the sociology of education itself concerning choice of model, concepts and perspective. A social theory of education is often assumed to be one concerned with hypothesising a 'fit' between a model of society and a model of an educational system. The system model involves the reification of the educational system and attribution of needs, goals and functions to it. According to Max Weber, the notion of 'action' plays a central part as one of the fundamental concepts of sociology.
