About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about sociological perspectives on the role of values in education, focusing in particular on: (i) how sociologists think about the purpose of shared values in society and define what a value is; (ii) how different theoretical traditions within sociology, such as functionalism, Marxism and feminism, think about the role of values in society; (iii) Émile Durkheim’s idea of social facts as something produced by common values and his work Moral Education, which argues that the purpose of education is to both socialise people into common values and prepare them to work within the modern division of labour.

About the lecturer

Dr Shaun Best is Senior Lecturer in Education Studies at the University of Winchester. He researches and teaches on social theory, particularly the work of Zygmunt Bauman, and the sociology of education. His recent publications include The Emerald Guide to Zygmunt Bauman (2020), Zygmunt Bauman on Education in Liquid Modernity (2019), and Talcott Parsons: Despair and Modernity (2016).