KEY PEOPLE

Review the major theoretical contributions or research findings of these theorists and thinkers.

James Coleman and Thomas Hoffer: A study of students in Catholic and public high schools by these two sociologists demonstrated that performance was based on setting higher standards for students rather than on individual ability. (353)

Randall Collins: Collins studied the credential society. (342)

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore: Davis and Moore argue that a major task of society is to fill social positions with capable people and that one of the functions of schools is gatekeeping—the funneling of people into these positions on the basis of merit. (348)

Emile Durkheim: Durkheim investigated world religions and identified elements that are common to all religions: separation of sacred from profane, beliefs about what is sacred, practices surrounded the sacred, and a moral community. (354–355)

George Farkas: Farkas and a team of researchers investigated how teacher expectations affect student grades. They found that students signal teachers that they are good students by being eager, cooperative and working hard. (351)

Benton Johnson: Johnson analyzed types of religious groups: cults, sects, churches, and ecclesia. (361–362)

Karl Marx: Marx was critical of religion, calling it the opium of the masses. (359–360)

Richard Niebuhr: This theologian suggested that the splintering of Christianity into numerous branches has more to do with social change than with religious conflict. (366–367)

Talcott Parsons: Another functionalist who suggested that a function of schools is to funnel people into social positions. (348)

Liston Pope: Another sociologist who studied types of religious groups. (361–362)

Ray Rist: This sociologist’s classic study of an African American grade school uncovered some of the dynamics of educational tracking. (350–351)

Thomas Sowell: Sowell has studied international differences in student performance. (351)

Ernst Troeltsch: Yet another sociologist who is associated with types of religious groups from cults to ecclesia. (361–362)

Max Weber: Weber studied the link between Protestantism and the rise of capitalism and found that the ethic associated with Protestant denominations was compatible with the needs of capitalism. (360)