‘Southern Theory’ and its relevance for comparative education

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to assess the relevance of new theoretical approaches that are being made in the social sciences for the field of Comparative Education. It begins with a critical review of recent work by Australian social scientist Raewynn Connell, which seeks to explore the lineaments of sociological theory as it expresses itself in a range of places around the world and to understand the limits and possibilities of this alternative sociological imagination. The article will attempt to extract that which is new and different in this body of thinking and to look at how these bear on and come to provide new insights into the central preoccupations of contemporary Comparative Education such as Education for All.