1st Edition

Society and Education An Outline of Comparison

By Stavros Moutsios Copyright 2018
    204 Pages
    by Routledge

    202 Pages
    by Routledge

    Society and Education explores the relation of society to education in Europe, as well as its comparative perspective towards overseas societies and their institutions. It is an enquiry into the social-historical institution of education and cross-cultural studies in Europe.

    Elaborating on the Castoriadian ontology, the book delves into the magma of social imaginary significations that characterise and associate pivotal epochs of the continent’s history, Classical Greece and Modernity, and exemplifies their incarnation in educational systems and in the formation of the European and, in general, the Western comparative gaze. With a particular focus on our epoch, Postmodernity and globalisation, the study traces the pervasive dominance of capitalist significations in social institutions, forms, and activities, as well as in education and the way it is compared across countries. Nevertheless, as Moutsios suggests, the European tradition, notwithstanding its ideological usage by much of social sciences, contains an indissoluble critical and self-reflective dimension, which needs to be sustained and advanced in education and its cross-cultural comparison, perhaps, more than ever before.

    The book demonstrates the embeddedness of education in its cultural context and should, therefore, be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students who are involved with comparative education, the sociology and history of education, education policy, and European studies.

    Prologue

    Chapter 1. Social imaginary, culture and education as an institution

    Chapter 2. Self-reflectiveness, education and cross-cultural inquiry in Ancient Greece

    Chapter 3. The institution of education and comparative studies in Europe

    Chapter 4. Total capitalism and the (de-)Europeanisation of education and cross-cultural comparison

    Chapter 5. From comparison to syncrisis

    Bibliography

    Biography

    Stavros Moutsios is Associate Professor of International Comparative Education Policy at Aarhus University (DPU, Copenhagen). He studied at the University of London and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he also worked as a Lecturer, and he has been a visiting scholar at the University of Auckland and a research fellow at Berlin Humboldt University.

    'Stavros Moutsios has produced a highly original and theoretically ambitious book, which promises to extend the boundaries of Comparative Education in important directions, as he links detailed analyses of ancient Greek education, with a significant and highly welcome introduction to the work of Cornelius Castoriadis on social imaginaries, and its potential for Comparative Education scholars.' - Roger Dale, Professor at the University of Bristol