終身教育理念的社會學探討

The Conceptual Foundations of Lifelong Education: A Sociological Perspective

學習是終生持續不斷的過程。從終身教育的理念而言，教育已不侷限於年輕時期和學校生涯，而是人類活動的一部分。在此，社會學應給予明確的概念，以闡明終身教育的意義。本文係從社會學的觀點詳細探討終身教育的理論基礎。全文包括三個主要部份：（1）現代社會的特性；（2）社會學的參考架構；（3）終身教育的社會學分析。從本研究中，我們可發現終身教育將是未來教育發展的主流。然而，本研究只是初步的探討，實際的應用有待更進一步的研究。

In lifelong education, learning is a normal, constant dimension of man’s entire life. It will no longer be confined in time and place to youth and school, but enter into all human activities wherever they may take place. Sociology is, therefore, called for to furnish specific criteria that may help to eluciate those implication of lifelong education. This article explored in detail the conceptual foundations of lifelong education from sociological perspective. Three topics discussed in this paper are: (1) the characteristics of modem society; (2) the frame of reference provided by sociology; (3) the sociological analysis of lifelong education. Apparently, by this study, we could find lifelong education will be a main stream in the future development of education. However, this study is only a intiatory inquiry. Further research on the application of sociology to lifelong education must be paid more attention to conduct.