Mapping the intellectual landscape of the sociology of education: a comparative bibliometric analysis (2001–2023)

Abstract

This study examines how the empirical, cultural, and reflexive orientations in the sociology of education have been reconfigured through evolving relations among evidence, critique, and knowledge developments. Drawing on large-scale bibliometric analyses of publications from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Taiwan (2001–2023), it maps the trajectories of disciplinary knowledge and the relational structures among key concepts across these contexts. The findings reveal three central tendencies: first, in the United States, the dominance of an empirical regime continues to define the logic of the field; second, in the United Kingdom, reflexive critique remains central to the discipline’s theoretical discourse; and third, in Taiwan, a form of ‘translational knowledge’ has emerged to link global theories with local educational agendas. This research exposes the mechanisms through which power and meaning are reproduced within the discipline and proposes new theoretical directions for the sociology of education.