Sociology of Educational Credentials can be divided into two parts; the analysis of the educational attainment process and that of the status attainment process. Most previous researches have mainly focused on analyzing the effect of educational credentials on the process of individuals' status attainment. However, the process of educational attainment should not be neglected, because, without it, the sociology of educational credentials can not be perfect. As for the analysis of educational attainment, there are two main approach, the functional approach and the moral socialization approach. The functional approach takesthe educational attainment process as a process for an individual to acquire knowledge andskills which are needed in the industrialized society.
Against that, the moral socialization approach takes the same process as an internalization process of value orientation which is prerequisite to maintain and reproduce the already established class system. It isan important contribution of radicals that they set up, not educational credentials which individuals have attained, but value orientation which individuals have internalized as a crucial product in the educational attainment process. However, radicals have not succeeded to analyze the dynamic process of moral socialization, and they are trapped by a simplistic and mechanic logic. They depend on the simple logic of one-to-one correspondence in exlaining the causal relationships among the social class system, the formation of sub-culture, the value internarization by the family as a socialization agent, the reinforcement bythe school system and the reproduction of the social class system. But More dynamic approach is needed for the more comprehensive understanding of the educational attainment process.
