Profiles of Famous Educators: Basil Bernstein

Abstract

Basil Bernstein, Karl Mannheim Chair Emeritus in the Sociology of Education, at the Institute of Education, University of London, born on 1 November 1924, died on 24 September 2000 after a prolonged battle with throat cancer. Professor Bernstein was one of the leading sociologists in the world, whose pioneering work over the past four decades illuminated our understanding of the relationship among political economy, family, language and schooling. Although committed to equity and social justice, or in his own words, 'preventing the wastage of working class educational potential' (1961b, p. 308), his work was often misunderstood and incorrectly labelled a form of 'cultural deficit' theory. Nothing could be more inac- curate.