Sociology of Higher Education: Contributions and Their Contexts

by Patricia J. Gumport

Overview

In this volume, Patricia Gumport and other leading scholars examine the sociology of higher education as it has evolved since the publication of Burton Clark's foundational article in 1973. They trace diverse conceptual and empirical developments along several major lines of specialization and analyze the ways in which wider societal and institutional changes in higher education have influenced this vital field of study.

In her own chapters, Gumport identifies the factors that constrain or facilitate the field's development, including different intellectual legacies and professional contexts for faculty in sociology and in education. She also considers prospects for the future legitimacy and vitality of the field.

Featuring extensive reviews of the literature, this volume will be invaluable for scholars and students of sociology and higher education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801892158
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	07/16/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Patricia J. Gumport is vice provost for graduate education and a professor of education at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Institute for Higher Education. She is coeditor of American Higher Education in the Twenty-first Century: Social, Political, and Economic Challenges and In Defense of American Higher Education, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Preface
Part I: Points of Departure
1. Development of the Sociology of Higher Education
2. Sociology of Higher Education: An Evolving Field
Part II: Four Domains
3. The Study of Inequality
4. The Study of College Impact
5. The Study of the Academic Profession
6. The Study of Colleges and Universities as Organizations
Part III: Emerging Lines of Inquiry
7. Higher Education as an Institution
8. Sociological Studies of Academic Departments
9. The Sociology of Diversity
10. Sociological Frameworks for Higher Education
Part IV: Looking Ahead
11. A Note on Pursuing Things That Work
12. Reflections on a Hybrid Field: Growth and Prospects for the Sociology of Higher Education
Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Jack H. Schuster

Sociology of Higher Education affords a lofty vantage point from which to view the vibrant intersection of sociology and higher education. Patricia Gumport has assembled an impressive array of scholars. Their dozen chapters, taken together, update Burton Clark's pioneering survey of the field and provide timely, authoritative overviews of the field's component parts.

— Jack H. Schuster, Claremont Graduate University

W. Richard Scott

This volume intelligently links past and future. Burton Clark has played a central role in defining the contours of the sociology of higher education. This collection of essays honors and amplifies his legacy but goes beyond Clark's early insights to identify promising new lines of inquiry.

— W. Richard Scott, Stanford University

From the Publisher

A welcome and useful contribution to the fields of sociology and education. It stands alone in its treatment of a number of important sociological dimensions that define what might be understood as an agenda for sociological inquiry in higher education. The editor has been truthful to her subject and has rightly recognized the challenges inherent in the development and promotion of such an endeavor.
—Scott Thomas, Institute for Higher Education, University of Georgia

Patricia Gumport is to be lauded for her intellectual leadership in a creative and definitive account of the evolution of an important subfield of sociology. This work presents all the authority but none of the turgidity of a major handbook.
—Neil J. Smelser, University of California, Berkeley

This volume intelligently links past and future. Burton Clark has played a central role in defining the contours of the sociology of higher education. This collection of essays honors and amplifies his legacy but goes beyond Clark's early insights to identify promising new lines of inquiry.
—W. Richard Scott, Stanford University

Sociology of Higher Education affords a lofty vantage point from which to view the vibrant intersection of sociology and higher education. Patricia Gumport has assembled an impressive array of scholars. Their dozen chapters, taken together, update Burton Clark's pioneering survey of the field and provide timely, authoritative overviews of the field's component parts.
—Jack H. Schuster, Claremont Graduate University

Neil J. Smelser

Patricia Gumport is to be lauded for her intellectual leadership in a creative and definitive account of the evolution of an important subfield of sociology. This work presents all the authority but none of the turgidity of a major handbook.

— Neil J. Smelser, University of California, Berkeley

Scott Thomas

A welcome and useful contribution to the fields of sociology and education. It stands alone in its treatment of a number of important sociological dimensions that define what might be understood as an agenda for sociological inquiry in higher education. The editor has been truthful to her subject and has rightly recognized the challenges inherent in the development and promotion of such an endeavor.

— Scott Thomas, Institute for Higher Education, University of Georgia

Editorial Reviews

The book is outstanding in two respects: it presents a comprehensive state of the field, and it explores the role of sociological research in guiding higher education practice . . . Summing Up: Essential.
—Choice

Unique in its genre . . . provides an analytical survey of the work accomplished in the sociology of higher education since the inception of this subfield, as well as suggesting directions for future research.
—Anne Friederike Delouis, Reflecting Education

From the Publisher

"Unique in its genre... provides an analytical survey of the work accomplished in the sociology of higher education since the inception of this subfield, as well as suggesting directions for future research."

Reflecting Education - Anne Friederike Delouis

"The book is outstanding in two respects: it presents a comprehensive state of the field, and it explores the role of sociological research in guiding higher education practice... Summing Up: Essential."

Choice

Unique in its genre... provides an analytical survey of the work accomplished in the sociology of higher education since the inception of this subfield, as well as suggesting directions for future research.

— Anne Friederike Delouis

Reflecting Education