Basil Bernstein rarely had a good press in the forty-odd years in which he presented his developing theories to the public. Early admiration for his sociolinguistic 'discoveries' - of codes which regulate, at a deep-structural level, family beliefs and behaviours and relationships, as well as surface utterances - turned quite quickly into a suspicion that his description of social class difference amounted to a declaration of working class deficit. Although Bernstein's writings, particularly in the 1990s, became opaque to the point of seeming to be purposefully obscurantist, they have always been enlivened by clear, pithy and punchy statements which left no room for ambiguity about the case he was making. The struggle to achieve an education system which would offer genuinely equal opportunities to children from all class and cultural backgrounds continued to underpin the writing and teaching of his later years.

The papers in this volume show the origin and development of Bernstein's theoretical studies into the relationships between social class, patterns of language use and the primary socialization of the child.
'Bernstein's hypothesis will require [teachers] to look afresh not only at their pupils' language but at how they teach and how their pupils learn.'
Douglas Barnes, Times Educational Supplement
'His honesty is such that it illuminates several aspects of what it is to be a genius.'
Josephine Klein, British Journal of Educational Studies

Illustrating the effect of class relationships upon the institutionalizing of elaborate codes in the school, the papers in this volume each develop from the previous one and demonstrate the evolution of the concepts discussed.

Illustrating the effect of class relationships upon the institutionalizing of elaborate codes in the school, the papers in this volume each develop from the previous one and demonstrate the evolution of the concepts discussed.

This book represents part of an ongoing effort to understand the rules, practices, agencies and agents which shape and change the social construction of pedagogic discourse. It draws together and re-examines the findings of the author's earlier work.

Series Information:
Basil Bernstein: Class, Codes and Control

The papers in this second volume show some of the results of the empirical exploration of Bernstein's hypothesis. The volume represents a significant contribution not only to the study of the sociology of language, but also to education and the social sciences.
"This collection demonstrates the magnitude of Bernstein's pioneering contribution to socio-linguistic studies" - S. John Eggleston, Times Educational Supplement

First Published in 1996. Research on childhood is a growing area of interest in social policy. Covering both familial and institutional settings, this book explores relevant issues, including the female workforce and changing family forms.

First Published in 1996. Research on childhood is a growing area of interest in social policy. Covering both familial and institutional settings, this book explores relevant issues, including the female workforce and changing family forms.

The papers in this second volume show some of the results of the empirical exploration of Bernstein's hypothesis. The volume represents a significant contribution not only to the study of the sociology of language, but also to education and the social sciences.
This collection demonstrates the magnitude of Bernstein's pioneering contribution to socio-linguistic studies - S. John Eggleston, Times Educational Supplement

The papers in this volume show the origin and development of Bernstein's theoretical studies into the relationships between social class, patterns of language use and the primary socialization of the child.
'Bernstein's hypothesis will require [teachers] to look afresh not only at their pupils' language but at how they teach and how their pupils learn.'
Douglas Barnes, Times Educational Supplement
'His honesty is such that it illuminates several aspects of what it is to be a genius.'
Josephine Klein, British Journal of Educational Studies

This book, the fifth in the series developing Bernstein s code theory, presents a lucid account of the most recent developments of this code theory and, importantly, shows the close relation between this development and the empirical research to which the theory has given rise. Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity addresses the central issue of Bernstein s research project: are there any general principles underlying the transformation of knowledge into pedagogic communication? In Bernstein s view, we have studied only pedagogic messages and their institutional and ideological base. We have not studied the nature of the relay which makes messages possible. The discussion of this research forms part II of this book, where Bernstein makes explicit the methodology of the research and, in particular, the crucial significance of languages of description. This new edition of Bernstein's classic book is updated with three new chapters: on discourse, on official knowledge and identities, and a wide ranging interview with Joseph Solomon. The new edition, published as Volume Five in his Class, Codes, and Control Series, builds on the continuing tradition of Bernstein's highly influential work on class, education, language, and society.

<<basil bernstein was both the most interesting and important british sociologist of recent times, internationally better known for longer than any other [...]. his ideas offer the most developed grammar for understanding the shape and character of our current educational practice. at its various points, his emerging corpus has offered a combination of connectedness and openness. he was a constant reviser of his ideas, arguing always that this was necessitated by the relationship between the empirical and the theoretical.

This volume is replete with cameos of various aspects of his corpus that the individual researchers represented have regarded as particularly important both for themselves and their analyses. They celebrate a joint dedication to 'developing a more systematic and general language of description'. [...]. This book also contains a paper by Bernstein and a video conference.>>

`a rich fount of ideas; any reflective practitioner will enjoy it for its challenge and for the multi-disciplinary view of Vygotsky's theory applying to education.' - British Psychological Society DECP Newsletter

`this collection is going to be an important addition to the growing evidence of the value of Vygotsky's theories in education.' - Language, Culture and Curriculum

`well worth dipping into for an underpinning of what is happening in English at the moment, and what might happen in the medium to long-term future.' - English in Education