Sociology of Education and political commitment: the concept of field

A theoretical current - critical functionalism, which defends that school's function, is to reproduce capitalist domination- has long been identified with a politically progressive position. The article challenges this idea: critical functionalism doesn't offer good explanations of educational systems' dynamics; therefore it's useless to do any realistic political proposals. Instead, the article propose to analyze educational systems using Bourdieu's concept of field: school systems are historical outcomes of the intertwining of multiple actors' strategies. This analysis allows us to avoid two dangers in political action: fatalism of the structures and idealist voluntarism. In critical sociology of education, expressive elements are foremost: it serves to reassert the conviction of a neat boundary between good and evil. Opposite to it, the article defends that the most important political task of a researcher is to offer solid data and explanations than can be useful to specify in a realistic way objectives and means of political action.