There are two orientations in the research for sociology of education: the micro paradigm and the macro paradigm. The former pays more attention to action

mostly represented by symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology

emphasizing the study of micro-behavior in education. The latter pays more attention to structure

mostly represented by functionalism

neo-Marxism

structuralism and post-structuralism

and advocates a holistic explanation of the structure and function of education. However

when adopting the two paradigms

many researches either pay too much attention to the micro details or over emphasize the decisive power of the overall structure

thus failing to really integrate the micro and macro paradigms

let alone complete theoretical construction. Charles Wright Mills' "sociological imagination" is not only a kind of mental quality

but also a kind of research method. It emphasizes the idea of shuttling between different levels of macro theory and micro empirical materials

which provides a possible path for the integration of the macro and micro paradigms in research for sociology of education

and therefore has important methodological significance.