Introduction

Who is sociology of Education for? This was one of the question to be addressed by this network. In other words, what is the role of sociology of education professionals in a contemporary Europe? To answer this question this paper examine sociology of education from Critical Race Theory (CRT) perspective in a Norwergian and/or Nordic context. The aim is to show how CRT can equip sociology of education professionals to deal with race, racism and the inclusion (anti-racism) measures in education.

In the past 50 years, most of the Nordic nations have experienced immigration from non- western nations. This is said to pose great challenges to the welfare system including the comprehensive education system, that is mainly free of charge (Grødem, 2016). The main goal of the comprehensive education in these countries is to equip the population with the skills they need to compete in the national labour market and sustain the welfare system (Grødem, 2016).

One of the ways education systems has reacted to the recent immigration has been to “enrich” the (predominantly white) teacher education with multicultural, intercultural or transcultural courses in order to be able to handle the multicultural classes. Such approaches rarely question the values, systems, policies which determine the needs of the individuals and labour market or the merits to be used to assess the students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. In this paper, I would like to address the importace of such approaches in a rapidly changing society  in terms of racial and ethnic composition. 

 Critical Race Theory (CRT)

Historically, sociology of education originated in 1960s due to the concerns of classical sociology on the issues regarding meritocracy and equality (Sadovnick, 2016). Parallel, feminist and critical race scholars has questioned the legitimacy of sociology and educational researches. Feminist sociologist Doroth Smith (1988) criticized sociology for failing to engage with the everyday lived experiences of women and claimed that the social relations the sociology was dealing with, were derived from male perspectives.  The current claim of sociology of education to be “out of tune”, partly indicates the widening gap between the field, the lived experiences of the target groups and the policies.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) questions meritocracy and equality measures in contemporary educational systems as are mainly derived from dominant white middle class perspectives. CRT dissect the liberal and equality theories to show how the relationship of race, whiteness and racism in education impair minority group members’ education outcomes. CRT can revitalize sociology of education by questioning the dominant Nordic perception of education as neutral and equally accessible to all. This involves highlighting the ways education can work to manifest inequalities based on racial and ethnic relations in education and society. CRT is a useful theoretical tool as it focus on studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001) by casting a new gaze on the persistent problems of racism in schooling (Ladson-Billings, 2006).  According to Delgado and Stefancic (2001), unlike traditional human, civil rights and democratic movements, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality and inclusion theories. To do so it operates with five tenets i.e. 1) centering race and racism, 2) reject and challenge color-blind ideologies, 3) commitment to social justice, 4) recognition of experiential knowledge and 5) commitment to interdisciplinary approach to racism.  My call for CRT in sociology of education is based on the fact that, despite the equality and egalitarian values in Norway countries racism in education has been documented to occur under the colour-blind style that is subtle and in a sophisticated manner (Dowling, 2018, Bang Svendsen 2014).

The paper relies on qualitative research approach by reviewing literature and analysis of social science curriculum for secondary school in Norway. This will involve analyzing how the issues of race and/ ethnic (in) equality in education have been addressed in the curriculum, which is an important educational policy document. Additionally, I will analyse the nature and the trend of the research in education by reviewing research funded by the Norwegian Research Council (NRC) in the past 10 years. I opt for the document analysis method as it provides broad coverage; many events/policies, and many settings (Yin, 1994 in Bowen). I am also aware of the limitations posed by this method such as biased selectivity given that the available (selected) documents are likely to be chosen based on researchers interest and not in relation to the original purpose of the institutions or policies (Bowen, 2009).

This paper intends to revisit the role of sociology of education using Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Norway. The aim is to center the target groups or reduce the gap between theory and practice. One of the expected findings for this study is that although multiculturalism perspectives in education are increasing drastically, critical perspectives that interrogate education systems in matters regarding race and whiteness are still marginal. I also expect this study to provide an overview of the methodological as well as epistemological trends dominating racial and ethnic inclusion praxis though mapping the theoretical frameworks dominating educational research projects. Burawoy (2005) emphasizes that, there can be neither policy nor public sociology without a professional sociology that supplies “true” and tested methods, accumulated bodies of knowledge, orienting questions, and conceptual frameworks. Thus it is our responsibility to “re-tune” the sociology of education despite of the existing challenges. As argued by Alexander (2009), the purpose of intellectual work is to ‘bend the twig’ or to provide ‘an intervention in a particular moment of a paradigm pointing in a certain direction. Sociology of education is both a disciplinary and political project (Lingard & Thompson, 2017). I argue that, CRT is a necessary theoretical instrument in the sociology of education given that it focus both on theorising race and racism as well as its commitment to social justice in education. In that way, education will be able to continue to contribute to a sustainable welfare system that is the backbone of the Nordic nations.

References (400) Alexander, C. (2014). The Empire Strikes Back: 30 years on, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37:10, 1784-1792 Bang Svendsen, S. H. (2014). Learning racism in the absence of ‘race.’ European Journal of Women’s Studies, 21(1), 9–24. Bowen, G. (2009). Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method, Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2). Burawoy, M. (2005). 2004 ASA Presidential Address: For Public Sociology. American Sociological Review, 70(1), 4-28. Dowling, F. (2017). «’Rase’ og etnisitet? Det kan ikke jeg si noe særlig om – her er det ’Blenda-hvitt’!» Lærerutdanneres diskurser om hvithet, «rase» og (anti)rasisme. Norsk pedagogisk tidsskrift, 03 (101). Grødem, A. S (2016). Migration as a challenge to the Nordic welfare states. In Veggeland, N. (2016) (ed.) The Current Nordic Welfare State Model. New York: NOVA Science Publishers. Lingard, B. & Thompson, G. (2017).Doing time in the sociology of education, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 38:1, 1-12.