Possible benefits of a Pragmatic Sociology of Educational Knowledge in the analyses of contemporary Nordic curricular reform
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how a pragmatic sociology of educational knowledge, building on French pragmatic sociology, can be employed to disclose and discuss important aspects of curricular reform. The paper is a draft to a theoretical article, and does therefore not follow the IMRaD-structure, which is assumed in the submission form.
Changes in curriculum and syllabi across national borders, arenas and educational levels can be studied employing different sociological approaches (Imdorf & Leemann 2023). Traditional educational sociology often focuses on the reproduction of inequality (Boudon, Bourdieu, Willis, Lareau, Coleman). Since educational reforms also negotiate the relationship between liberation and discipline and the role of knowledge in schools, an approach catering to these features is also warranted.
We start the paper with some examples and argue that attention to these features is pertinent in ongoing curricular reforms in the Nordics. Subsequently, we introduce a pragmatic sociology of educational knowledge, which is suited to disclose how the relationship between liberation and discipline is balanced in reforms, and uncover how such reforms, in terms of crises, can be analysed to disclose societies’ deeper cultural values. This is a fruitful supplement to traditional educational sociology, and in the following section the theoretical framework of pragmatic sociology of knowledge is described with emphasis on the role of the works of Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot (Boltanski & Thévenot 2006), upon which it is developed. Ultimately, we demonstrate how this sociological trajectory may inform discussions of knowledge changes in school reforms and school subjects and exemplify by extracts from studies which have applied this perspective to contemporary changes in Norwegian schools and discuss its possible benefits (Hidle & Skarpenes 2025; Skarpenes & Hidle 2024).
Changes in curriculum and syllabi across national borders, arenas and educational levels can be studied employing different sociological approaches (Imdorf & Leemann 2023). Traditional educational sociology often focuses on the reproduction of inequality (Boudon, Bourdieu, Willis, Lareau, Coleman). Since educational reforms also negotiate the relationship between liberation and discipline and the role of knowledge in schools, an approach catering to these features is also warranted.
We start the paper with some examples and argue that attention to these features is pertinent in ongoing curricular reforms in the Nordics. Subsequently, we introduce a pragmatic sociology of educational knowledge, which is suited to disclose how the relationship between liberation and discipline is balanced in reforms, and uncover how such reforms, in terms of crises, can be analysed to disclose societies’ deeper cultural values. This is a fruitful supplement to traditional educational sociology, and in the following section the theoretical framework of pragmatic sociology of knowledge is described with emphasis on the role of the works of Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot (Boltanski & Thévenot 2006), upon which it is developed. Ultimately, we demonstrate how this sociological trajectory may inform discussions of knowledge changes in school reforms and school subjects and exemplify by extracts from studies which have applied this perspective to contemporary changes in Norwegian schools and discuss its possible benefits (Hidle & Skarpenes 2025; Skarpenes & Hidle 2024).
Published in NOKSA 2026 Social Studies in Times of Curriculum Changes, 2026
Read the article here