Alexander Osipov

The article examines the state of sociological research on teaching and justifies the expediency of applying in their conceptual bases the core theoretical constructions of the sociology of education, primarily those focusing on the institutional functions of education in society and the structure of the education system, not limited to the organizations of formal education. With reliance on these constructions, it becomes possible to formulate social contradictions in the teaching work, major features of the professional culture of teaching, the development of teachers as a social professional group. The same condition serves, as the author assumes, to form sociology of teaching as a sub-branch inside the sociology of education, the comparability of new research results and their integration into scientific knowledge.