Message from the Editors
William Carbonaro Anna R. Haskins
Since its founding nearly 100 years ago, Sociology of Education (SOE) has published theoretically rich, methodologically rigorous, and substantively important research by sociologists. We are proud and excited to continue this tradition by serving as Co-Editors for SOE for the next three years. Research on education has grown tremendously in the last 20 years, with growing diversity in the breadth of topics studied, the methodological approaches employed, the data sources analyzed, and the disciplinary and theoretical perspectives utilized by researchers. While the field of education has proliferated, so have societal forces that have impacted global education systems. Examples include the COVID-19 pandemic, which dramatically changed many aspects of schooling and achievement trajectories; an increase in diversity in school-going populations; technological advancements that complicate and innovate teaching and learning; and political culture wars that question what can be taught and learned.
These developments, among others, pose both a challenge and an opportunity for sociologists of education. The challenge for our subfield is to demonstrate that sociologists have a distinctive and valuable perspective to offer in studying education. The opportunity is to draw upon the long tradition of vibrant theorizing and rigorous research in our subfield to bring attention to and find ways to address the many pressing social issues—of health, mobility, diversity, technology, and politics—that intersect with education to impact people’s lives, opportunities, outcomes, and longevity.
More now than ever, a sociological perspective on education is needed. This perspective places learning, education, and schooling in conversation with broader social contexts and concerns and provides theories and concepts that identify specific features of the status attainment process and schooling system that shape students’ access to resources and opportunities that affect their learning and educational attainment. Sociologists examine how families, peers, school personnel, organizations, institutions, and policymakers shape the allocation of educational resources and opportunities and how resources and opportunities shape outcomes. Social reproduction and mobility are strong themes that inform work in our field. Overall, scholars have built a robust body of empirical work that describes and explains how educational systems work; how inequality is generated, perpetuated, and ameliorated; the ways schooling intersects with other social institutions; and the ever-evolving nature of learning. Although theory strongly informs and motivates our work, sociologists of education utilize a diverse array of methodological approaches to studying these questions. Thus, our vision is to draw on the vibrant and diverse methodological and empirical nature of our subfield to bring renewed attention to the varied ways education and learning occur within and outside of schools.
Our foremost responsibility as Co-Editors of SOE is to ensure that the journal publishes the highest quality manuscripts in the field. What do we mean by “high quality”? First, an SOE paper should be well grounded in a sociological framework, where authors conceptualize and frame their research questions using sociological theories and concepts. Sociological theories highlight key attributes of social systems that are overlooked or de-emphasized in other fields and disciplines. A successful SOE paper must demonstrate how sociological theories and concepts are crucial tools for understanding topics and questions regarding education. Second, SOE papers must also be methodologically rigorous. Findings must be credible and convincing to other experts on a given topic, and alternative explanations for patterns in the data must be sufficiently accounted for in the analysis. Finally, research findings do not speak for themselves. SOE authors must communicate the substantive significance and importance of their findings effectively to other scholars and the public, which will enhance their contributions to the field and make work found in SOE increasingly useful for informing policy and practice.
The peer-review process is central to our success as a journal and as a subfield. As Co-Editors, we will ensure that the peer-review process serves not only as a filter for quality but also as a mechanism for improving scholars’ work. We expect our reviewers to provide specific and detailed feedback that helps us evaluate the quality of an author’s work. More importantly, the feedback from SOE reviewers should help authors improve as theorists, analysts, and writers, regardless of whether their papers are accepted for publication or not. Indeed, the entire field benefits when the peer-review process works well, so we hope that all scholars (from the least to the most experienced) accept our invitations to review manuscripts for SOE.
As Co-Editors, we also support greater transparency and openness in research by SOE authors. Recent scandals in academic publishing have created a heightened urgency regarding the issues of transparency and the replicability of published research. It is important for both quantitative and qualitative researchers to disclose as much information as possible regarding their data and research procedures so that other scholars have the necessary information to judge the quality of a researcher’s published work. Numerous models to promote “transparent and replicable research” have already been developed (e.g., Elman, Kapiszewski, and Lupia 2018). Thus, as Co-Editors of SOE, we plan to develop a voluntary set of “open science” guidelines for SOE authors to follow. We hope a critical mass of SOE authors will follow these “best practices” and thereby increase trust in the quality of their scholarship both within the academy and beyond.
Finally, we would like to introduce and welcome our team of Deputy Editors: Julia Burdick-Will, Jessica Calarco, Eve L. Ewing, Roberto G. Gonzales, Andrew Halpern-Manners, and Catherine Riegle-Crumb. In making these selections, our goal was to select scholars who possess both substantive expertise and methodological skills that complement our own strengths. We also saw an opportunity to develop and mentor future leaders in our subfield by working with several promising, recently tenured scholars as deputy editors. Shannon Vakil will continue in her role as Managing Editor, which will ensure continuity and stability as we transition into our new roles.
In closing, we would like to recognize and thank John Diamond and Odis Johnson for their work as editors of SOE during the past three years. We hope to continue their record of success and look forward to taking SOE to new heights.
William Carbonaro
Anna R. Haskins
Editors,
Sociology of Education
