General theorizing on language, society, and education: Basil Bernstein, Goldilocks, and/or the Energizer bunny

Frederick Erickson

doi:10.1515/mult.2009.007

Article

General theorizing on language, society, and education: Basil Bernstein, Goldilocks, and/or the Energizer bunny

Frederick Erickson

Published/Copyright: August 17, 2009

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From the journal Volume 28 Issue 2-3

Abstract

After briefly outlining Bernstein's personal and educational history, the paper goes on to review the scope of his work over the past 30 years, his theoretical contribution and his position among colleagues in the post-WWII era of British sociology. There follows a more detailed examination of the main tenets of his theory, pointing out that Bernstein's strategy was to present his ideas in the form of dichotomies, such as that between modes of socialization as personal or positional, and of linguistic codes as elaborated or restricted. The paper suggests that while critical issues in educational thinking and in sociology varied through the course of Bernstein's career, such as the study of socialization and its consequences for social reproduction, his dichotomizing remained a constant strategy throughout his writings. I end by briefly referring to my own work that offers some possible alternatives to Bernstein's dichotomies, concluding, however, that the enduring quality of Bernstein owes not a little to the appeal of his overly sharp theoretical distinctions.

Keywords:: restricted codes; elaborated codes; social reproduction; social control; framing of knowledge

Address for correspondence: UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, 2320C Moore Hall, Box 951521, Los Angeles, CA 90095–1521. ferickson@gseis.ucla.edu

Published Online: 2009-08-17

Published in Print: 2009-August

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https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2009.007

Keywords for this article

restricted codes; elaborated codes; social reproduction; social control; framing of knowledge