Abstract
The purpose of this article is to examine the possibilities for “Theories of Late Modernity,” which insist that contemporary society is not confronted by post-modernity but is an extension of modernity in the context of the sociology of education in Japan. In order to attain this purpose, I especially focus on Anthony Giddensʼ discussions of ʻhigh modernityʼ because of his wide range of perspectives on the meaning of social theory.
I suggest four points as possibilities for theories of late modernity.
First, Giddens produced both structuration theory as a basic sociological theory and his discussion about high modernity as contemporary social study. According to his works, we should distinguish between basic sociological theories and contemporary social studies, and after that, we should link the former with the latter.
Second, Giddensʼ theory was often criticized for its inconsistency and his use of too many concepts from other theorists. Thus we must not believe that his theories are perfect. However, sociologists of education should use his theories if they can be dealt with carefully, because it is felt that his theories are adapted to many academic areas having concrete research targets.
Third, Giddens did not discuss education, at least in the context of theoretical books and articles, except in his political arguments and textbooks. This means that sociologists of education have opportunities to put forward additional theories of high modernity on education based on Giddensʼ discussions. One example was my perspective of the “reflexivity of meritocracy” (2009).
Fourth, we can understand Giddensʼ theories as arguments about space. He emphasized “time-space” in his theories over and over again. If we apply his spatial theory to education, we may construct a new educational theory of space.
