First published in 1979, this third edition of The Sociology of Education at the time held the field as the standard textbook on the subject. It takes into account the changes that occurred in the field from the publication of the first edition in 1965 and the second edition in 1972.

The book is divided into three parts: the first considers the way in which the child becomes a social being and the influences upon them of the family, the peer group and the mass media; the second deals with the sociology of schooling and looks at different types and stages of schools, as well as the attitudes and forms of interaction within them; and finally the third traces the relationship between education and social institutions, and looks at the balance between the preservation of social stability and the introduction of change.