The Sociology of Education Journal
Sociology of Education began life in 1927 as the Journal of Educational Sociology, under the editorship of E. George Payne of New York University. It carried with it the subtitle A Magazine of Theory and Practice. Payne's editorial board indeed bridged the worlds of theory and practice, and included such notable early figures of American sociology as Emory Bogardus, F. Stewart Chapin, Ellsworth Faris, and Robert E. Park, along with the influential educator David Snedden.
Payne used his editorial bully pulpit to claim some significant educational turf for sociology. Arguing that the work of educational psychologists, while crucial, missed much of social life, Payne announced the need for educators to understand how individual lives are embedded in families, civic relationships, and group interactions. Payne's "Sociological Basis of the Normal School Curriculum" was the first article published in the Journal of Educational Sociology.
Even today, the early years of the Journal of Educational Sociology make lively reading, as articles examining the relationships between education and community, opportunity, and social control appeared alongside impassioned debates about what educational sociology should be and to whom it should speak.
The Journal of Educational Sociology brilliantly filled its mission of linking theory to practice for nearly four decades, until 1963. In that year, the journal came under the care of the American Sociological Association, and became Sociology of Education. Under the editorship of Leila Sussman and with a remarkable editorial board (including, among others, Bernard Bailyn, Paul Lazarsfeld, David Riesman, Burton Clark, Blanche Geer, and Ralf Dahrendorf), Sociology of Education moved toward a more rigorous scientific understanding of the institution of education. Its inaugural article, Natalie Rogoff Ramsoy's "Public Education in America: A Research Program" provided a powerful call to arms of what the sociology of education had to offer.
Sociology of Education has evolved greatly since 1963, but much has stayed the same as well (as evidence of this, the first issue of Sociology of Education included a paper by Glen Elder, as did Volume 82 in 2009). Ranked in the top quintile of both Education and Educational Research journals and Sociology journals, the journal maintains its mission of providing "a forum for studies in the sociology of education and human social development. SOE publishes research that examines how social institutions and individuals' experiences within these institutions affect educational processes and social development. Such research may span various levels of analysis, ranging from the individual to the structure of relations among social and educational institutions. In an increasingly complex society, important educational issues arise throughout the life cycle."
David Bills
University of Iowa
April 2011