Globalization has become one of the most recurrent concepts in social and political sciences. More often than not, however, the concept is handled without much of a properly articulated theory capable of explaining its historical origin and expansion. For education researchers attempting to elucidate how global changes and processes affect their field of study, this situation is problematic. The Oxford Handbook on Education and Globalization brings together in a unique way leading authors in social theory and in political science and reflects on how these two distinct disciplinary approaches deal with the relation between globalization and education. Part I develops a firmer and tighter dialogue between social theory, long concerned with theories of globalization, and education research. It presents, discusses, and compares three major attempts to theorize the process of globalization and its relation to education: the neo-institutionalist theorization of world culture, the materialist and domination perspectives, and Luhmann's theory of world society.Part II analyses the political and institutional factors that shape the adoption of global reforms at the national and local level of governance, emphasizing the role of different contexts in shaping policy outcomes. It engages with the existing debates of globalization mainly in the field of public policy and comparative politics and explores the social, political, and economic implications of globalization for national systems of education, their organizations, and institutions.

Preface: The Globalization-Education Nexus: Social Theory and Comparative PoliticsPART I: Social Theory, Globalization, and EducationIntroduction to Part I: Social Theory, Globalization, and EducationSECTION I: Culture, Globalization, and EducationChapter 1: Globalization of Nation-States and National Education ProjectsChapter 2: An Anthropological Perspective on Globalization and SchoolingChapter 3: Historical Institutionalism in Education and GlobalizationChapter 4: Education in a Post-Liberal World SocietyChapter 5: World Culture, Education, and OrganizationChapter 6: Globalization, New Institutionalisms, and the Political DimensionChapter 7: Globalization, Cultural Logics, and the Teaching ProfessionChapter 8: Higher Education and Organizational Theory: Systems, Fields, Markets, and Populations in an Increasingly Global ContextSECTION II: Structural Approaches to Globalization in EducationChapter 9: The Globalisation of Expertise? Epistemic Governance, Quantification, and the ConsultocracyChapter 10: Globalization, Personalization, and the Learning ApparatusChapter 11: Field Theory Beyond the Nation StateChapter 12: Inclusive Education, Globalization, and New Philosophical Perspectives on Social JusticeChapter 13: Globalization, uncertainty and the returns to education over the life course in modern societiesChapter 14: Globalization of Education and the Sociology of ElitesChapter 15: Mobilizing Whiteness: Race, Futurity, and Globalization of Higher EducationSECTION III: Systems Theory, Globalization, and EducationChapter 16: Education in a Functionally Differentiated World SocietyChapter 17: Education Reform as a Global PhenomenonChapter 18: The Rats under the Rug: The Morphogenesis of Education in a Global ContextChapter 19: Redrawing what Counts as Education: The Impact of the Global Early Childhood Education Program on German KindergartenChapter 20: The University as a World OrganizationChapter 21: Small Worlds: Homeschooling and the Modern FamilyPART II: Policy Challenges and Implications of Global Pressures on National Education SystemsIntroduction: Global, National, and Local Scales of Governance in Education PolicySECTION IV: International Organizations and Education PolicyChapter 22: The Expansion of Education in and Across International OrganizationsChapter 23: The OECD's Boundary Work in Education in the United States and Brazil: A Historical Comparative Analysis of Two Federal StatesChapter 24: Playing God: Education Data Visualizations and the Art of World-MakingSECTION V: The Responses of National Education Systems to Global PressuresChapter 25: The PISA Pendulum: Political Discourse and Education Reform in the Age of Global Reference SocietiesChapter 26: Why Globalization Hardly Affects Education Systems: A Historical Institutionalist ViewChapter 27: Policy Advice and Policy Advisory Systems in EducationChapter 28: The Formation and Development of a Norwegian Accountability SystemSECTION VI: The Massification of Secondary EducationChapter 29: Diffusion of Mass Education: Pathways to IsomorphismChapter 30: The Politics of Equality in Secondary Education Across Wealthy Post-War DemocraciesChapter 31: Examining the Impact of Educational Reforms on Schooling and Competences in PIAACChapter 32: Educational Expansion and Inequality: School in Italy in the Second Part of the XX CenturySECTION VII: Globalization of Higher Education and ScienceChapter 33: Can Non-Western Countries Escape from Catch-up Modernity? The Troubling Case of Japan's Education Reforms in a Global EraChapter 34: The Global Scale in Higher Education and ResearchChapter 35: The Globalization of Science: The Increasing Power of Individual ScientistsChapter 36: China's Responses to Globalization and Higher Education Reforms: Challenges and Policy ImplicationsChapter 37: On Reforming Higher Education in IndiaChapter 38: The Rehabilitation of the Concept of Public Good: Reappraising the Attacks from Liberalism and Neo-Liberalism from a Poststructuralist PerspectiveSECTION VIII: Latin AmericaChapter 39: Educational Challenges in Latin America: An Outline from Conquest to COVIDChapter 40: Technocrats and Unions in the Politics of Reforming Teacher Careers in Colombia and PeruChapter 41: Subnational Variations in Education and Policy Innovation in ArgentinaChapter 42: Economic Globalization and Evolution of Education Spending in the Brazilian Federation 2013-2019Chapter 43: Does Globalization Reward Education? Evidence from MexicoChapter 44: Factious Education Politics in Chile 1981-2021: Enduring Contention over Privatization, Inequality, and Quality