Feng !

1
Yilun Feng
Writing 2
Matt Wilson
Spring 2016
Education in Different Disciplines
Education never fails to attract publics attention, not only because it directly
influences the quality and the quantity of knowledgeable labors in the future, but also
indirectly affects the level and the amounts of the researchers and institutions. The
standard of researchers and institutions have a great impact on comprehensive
national strength, which contributed to Gross National Happiness. So that education is
concerned by both individuals and the public. Different disciplines have different
methods to study the function and influence of education and develop their own
theories. Economists focus more on figuring out the relationship between the
investment in education and the growth of economics. In the economic scholarly
journal, Institutions, Education and Innovation and Their Impact on Economic
Growth, Miroljub Shukarov and Kristina Mari tended on talking about their research
questions by combining theoretic analysis and experimental results. Sociologists care
more about how education influence the whole society, from the small units, such as
the family and tribe, to larger units, such as the State and Christendom. In An
Introduction to Educational Sociology, the author, Walter Robinson Smith, tended to
use examples in daily life to help illustrate the sociological definitions. In general,
scholars in Economics and Sociology use different methods to study education, based
on their purposes.
Economics journals always use combination of analysis and datasets to introduce

Feng !2
the concepts or the ideas to the audiences instead of using cool data to inform or
gorgeous language to persuade them. Authors usually use clear and plain words to
match the first essential rule of economics that people are rational. In Institutions,
Education and Innovation and Their Impact on Economic Growth, Miroljub Shukarov
and Kristina Maric used both literature and statistical analysis. The article built
project on whether the degree of institutional development in countrys educational
system is sufficient enough to create prospects for economic growth. The authors
use comparison of non-European and countries as research objects, and choose
Macedonia and Serbia as example of non-European Union countries, and Bulgaria
and Slovenia as member countries of the European Union Countries. Choosing four
countries instead of just choosing one country from each union to compare prevents
the accidental phenomena and makes the datasets, which means, the authors were
striving for accuracy and precision. This also matches main idea of rational people:
only accurate datasets and analyzation can convince their audiences.
Analyzing the datasets and the results of the comparison plays an important role
in Economic journals. The authors perform two analyzations from the comparison:
the first one is just comparing the statistical data, and the second one is comparing the
HDI (Human Development Index) of the four countries of interest. The first
comparison is generated from the superficial data; it studies the relationship between
several indicators such as GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth, population growth,
primary and tertiary school enrolment rate and FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and
investments in R&D (Research and Dvelopment) from World Band Database during
2000 to 2013. Those indicators play important role on analyzation: the growth of GDP
can show the countrys economic trends; the population growth can be used to predict

Feng !3
the future school enrolment; FDI and investments in R&D can indicate the how much
the country is institutionalized and whether it follow the European Union regulatory
postulates. The list of the indicators is inviting audience to find the relationship
between these indicators and the authors purpose on how to relate these indicators on
the results. The second analyzation is based on former comparison: using HDI for
these countries and checking whether it applies with the results obtained from the
above explained variables. The authors conclude that the HDI is a statistical
composition incorporating three statistical measures: life expectancy, education and
income per capita. This conclusion is not only derived from the data, but also
combine with authors hypotheses and assumptions.
Differing from focusing on analyzation and evidence, monograph in Sociology
put more effort on listing and explaining the definitions, and using example to
illustrate them. How the author of An introduction to Educational Sociology, Walter
Smith, talked about why education and society are closely linked can be a great
example. First of all, he demonstrated that it is impossible for an individual to be
trusted to educate himself. Then, he listed what kinds of education the society can
provide for an individual: group education, mass education, and school education. At
last, the author concluded that Society has adopted universal compulsory education
to protect itself (11) since the government need to use education to socialize
individuals. In this example, we can easily figure out that the monograph in Sociology
can get their conclusion by analyzing and explaining several phenomena which
related in same topic, connect them with the associated sociological theory, and then
sort out a reasonable logical relationship between these phenomena. This may be
related to the definition of Sociology: Sociology is a social science that uses various

Feng !4
methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a boy of
knowledge about social order, disorder, and change(Wiki-pedia). So that
Sociological monographs care more about theoretical proof and justification, instead
of analyzation datasets like economists do.
In addition, Sociologists research objects are the whole group of individuals and
the society. Many sociologists aim to conduct research that may be applied directly to
social policy and welfare, while others focus primarily on refining the theoretical
understanding of social processes. Subject matter ranges from the macro level of
individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems and the social
structure Wiki-pedia

. The tones of sociological articles vary for their audiences

and purposes: articles written for individuals use plain words for its purpose of
introducing and spreading scientific knowledge; those written for the public, mainly
for the government, always sharply point the problems in the society, and give the
government advises with a serious tone. Walter Smith used easily understood words
to introduce the educational sociology to those who unfamiliar with sociology. For
example, when he mentioned the mission of educational sociologists, he wrote that,
Our curricular are being worked over to introduce more sociological material, and
each study is going through the process of socialization. Even school discipline is
ceasing to be individualistic and domineering and is becoming social and
democratic. He used a soft and gentle tone, analyzed and discussed by first person to
encourage audiences to keep up with him, follow his chain of thoughts and discuss
their own comments with him.
In general, scholars in different disciplines shape their conventions of articles for

Feng !5
the purpose and audiences. The authors of economic journals list the data to invite
audiences to discuss their results of investigation and write down their progress of
analyzation to invite audience follow their trains of thought and point out the mistakes
and shortcomings. The authors of sociological monographs tend to using empirical
investigation and critical analysis to illustrate their main ideas, and introduce the
definition to the individuals or advise on the phenomena of social problems for the
public. Rational people idea for Economics determines that economists are more
good at analyzing the data and comparing the results, while due to the main purpose is
to study the social behavior, sociologists do better in writing critically for the
government and introduce clearly to the individuals. The main differences in
conventions between different disciplines are working for the ideas of their own
disciplines.

Feng !6

Works Cited
Shukarov, Miroljub, and Kristina Maric. "Institutions, Education and Innovation and
Their Impact on Economic Growth." Interdisciplinary Description of Complex
Systems : Interdiscip. Descr. Complex Syst. 14.2 (2016): 157-64. Web.

Stalcup, Benjamin F., and Walter Robinson Smith. "An Introduction to Educational
Sociology." Journal of Educational Sociology 3.6 (1930): 372. Web.

"Sociology." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 09 May 2016.