Towards the Sociology of Truth

'Towards the Sociology of Truth should be read by every sociologist of education. It is an argument for a social realist account of knowledge, an attempt to wrestle with and reconcile some of the deep fissures in sociological thinking, and a reclamation of all that is best in the discipline through an analytical history of its intellectual antecedants. This book will prove a challenge to many in the discipline and, because it cannot be ignored, will be indispensable to debates about the nature of sociology of education and the claims to knowledge that it makes.' Hugh Lauder, Professor of Education and Political Economy, University of Bath, UK
'A provocative examination of the key issues in the sociology of education and the sociology of knowledge. Drawing upon his thorough knowledge of both fields, Moore demonstrates that these too often separate subfields in sociology need to be linked together analytically in order to understand ongoing debates about absolutism and relativity. Through a penetrating examination of the development of New Sociology of Education in the 1970s and subsequent theoretical discussions, Moore provides us with an understanding of how knowledge is the product of a complex set of social forces and that dualistic conceptions of objectivity and subjectivity are more complex than the methodological debates suggest. If this were not enough, Moore provides illuminating analyses of both Bernstein and Bourdieu, which show how each contributed immensely to these debates.' Alan R. Sadovnik, Professor of Education, Sociology and Public Affairs, Rutgers University, USA