The humanities and social science disciplines have always been embedded in and responsive to their contexts in cultural and political ways. The discipline of the history of education is no exception. However, a change has occurred where these disciplines are increasingly expected to prove their relevance faced with the politics of knowledge in the knowledge economy. This tendency is investigated in this book regarding the discipline of the history of education in America and Europe. As a reaction, the contributions positively address the question of the raison d'être of the history of education. Is the discipline to serve educationalists, the general public, social scientists, historians or all of them at the same time?
Dr. Jesper Eckhardt Larsen is assistant professor in the history of education at the Institute of Education, Aarhus University.
