Critical social theory and public debate: Issues in contemporary education. Introduction

Several key events in the last decade or two have radically changed the nature of challenges in contemporary education, such as the rise of AI with all its promises and perils, accelerating climate change, and the COVID pandemic. Connecting these events are increasing inequities, discrimination, and polarisation with the rise of fundamentalist and far-right nationalism. Increasingly, the voices and theoretical reflections of sociologists are being silenced by easy sound bites from consulting companies, which offer simple analyses and easy solutions, and by the resurgence of psychology, neuroscience, and the economics of education. Reflecting on the consequences of these contemporary shifts, this chapter explores how sociological critique might be renewed to understand the impacts of the changing relationship between society and education. Tracing the way sociological critique in education has historically responded to emerging social challenges, this chapter proposes that we need an earthly sociology that honours a situated understanding of phenomena, takes account of materiality, includes a focus on climate change and its consequences, is prepared to understand the limitations of the Western epistemological canon, and is able to invite a plurality of epistemic and ontological approaches.