The Impact of Comparative Education Research on Institutional Theory

Volume in the International Perspectives on Education and Society Series
Published by Elsevier Science Ltd., Oxford, UK

Edited by
David P. Baker (Penn State University) &
Alexander W. Wiseman (The University of Tulsa)

Over the last several decades institutional theory has played an
increasingly influential role in the development of our understanding of
education in society. And to a large extent research from a comparative
perspective has been instrumental in broadening and testing hypotheses
from institutional theory. This symbiotic relationship has proved
productive intellectually. Comparative scholarship on school and
university expansion, the penetration of education into a world culture,
the spread of global schooling ideologies and operational models, the
rise of common curricula, and the explosion of internationalized
education policy are just a few examples of how comparative research has
informed institutional theory about the greater integration of formal
education into modern life.

In light of the impact that comparative education research has had on
institutional theory, we ask where the comparative and international
study of education as an institution is heading in the 21st century.
What are the current issues, problems, and practices that need to be
discussed, reviewed, and debated? How have specific sub-fields in
comparative education research been addressed using institutional theory
over the past decade?

To foster this conversation we have been asked to contribute a volume to
the annual review-of-the-field book series, International Perspectives
on Education and Society, for Elsevier Science Ltd. For this volume, we
are soliciting chapter proposals from scholars in the field who could
contribute critical syntheses of certain areas, original comparative
education research within an institutional framework, or a combination
of the two. The intent is to have a combination of state-of-the-field
reviews, new empirical scholarship, and critical discussions of major
topics in the field of comparative and international education.

Please contact us at the address below with chapter proposals and/or
manuscripts by November 30, 2004:

Alexander W. Wiseman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Education
The University of Tulsa
600 S. College Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74104
Email : alex-wiseman@utulsa.edu