P W Musgrave – författare

Originally published 1968, the book examines the ways in which the definitions of education held by different groups with power have changed since 1800 and traces which social institutions exercised the preponderant influence on the growth of the English educational system during the seminal period in which the state system was founded and grew to its present position. Especial attention is given to the influence of the ideologies of the various social classes, to the growing demands of the economy on the educational system and to changes in the structure of the family.

Originally published 1968, the book examines the ways in which the definitions of education held by different groups with power have changed since 1800 and traces which social institutions exercised the preponderant influence on the growth of the English educational system during the seminal period in which the state system was founded and grew to its present position. Especial attention is given to the influence of the ideologies of the various social classes, to the growing demands of the economy on the educational system and to changes in the structure of the family.

Originally published in 1985. This is a fascinating account of the life cycle of a minor literary genre, the boys’ school story. It discusses early nineteenth-century precursors of the school story – didactic works with such revealing titles as The Parents’ Assistant – and goes on to examine in detail the two major examples of the genre - Hughes’s Tom Brown’s School Days and Farrar’s Eric. The slow development of the genre during the 1860s and 1870s is traced, and its institutionalisation by Talbot Baines Reed in, for example, The Fifth Form at St Dominic’s, is described.

Many similar works were subsequently published for adults and adolescents, and the author shows how they differ from the originals in being critical in tone and written to a formula in plot and style. This development is discussed in relation to the changing social structure of Britain up to 1945, by which time to life of the genre was almost ended.

Originally published in 1985. This is a fascinating account of the life cycle of a minor literary genre, the boys’ school story. It discusses early nineteenth-century precursors of the school story – didactic works with such revealing titles as The Parents’ Assistant – and goes on to examine in detail the two major examples of the genre - Hughes’s Tom Brown’s School Days and Farrar’s Eric. The slow development of the genre during the 1860s and 1870s is traced, and its institutionalisation by Talbot Baines Reed in, for example, The Fifth Form at St Dominic’s, is described.

Many similar works were subsequently published for adults and adolescents, and the author shows how they differ from the originals in being critical in tone and written to a formula in plot and style. This development is discussed in relation to the changing social structure of Britain up to 1945, by which time to life of the genre was almost ended.

First published in 1979, this third edition of The Sociology of Education at the time held the field as the standard textbook on the subject. It takes into account the changes that occurred in the field from the publication of the first edition in 1965 and the second edition in 1972.

The book is divided into three parts: the first considers the way in which the child becomes a social being and the influences upon them of the family, the peer group and the mass media; the second deals with the sociology of schooling and looks at different types and stages of schools, as well as the attitudes and forms of interaction within them; and finally the third traces the relationship between education and social institutions, and looks at the balance between the preservation of social stability and the introduction of change.