The Contribution of Economics and Sociology of Conventions to the Sociology of Curriculum: The Case of Economics Education in Schools
摘要
This chapter proposes to show that economics and sociology of conventions (in short EC/SC), as a strand of pragmatic sociology, contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of curricular evolutions, that is, of teaching contents. The analysis focuses on the teaching of economics and, more specifically, on the case of secondary economics teaching, particularly in France. The teaching of economics appeared with industrialization in the nineteenth century in Western countries and developed in the second half of the twentieth century. The social and political stakes of these contents emerge in the delimitation of the contents intended for teaching and in the disputes that this causes. This chapter will take up the elements brought by the researchers on this subject of the EC/SC current but also those coming from other approaches of the social sciences to put into perspective the particular contribution of economics and sociology of conventions to the sociology of the curriculum. The concept of convention allows to analyze institutional evolutions with the disputes that accompany them and the actual realizations of teaching activities. Emphasis can thus be placed on the particularity of the teaching activity of having to adjust the prescribed knowledge to the young public, itself constantly changing, for which it is intended. The implications that follow from this in relation to the evolution of the curriculum will be examined.