This book explores the possibilities in a new approach to educational analysis--a fusion of methods drawn from economics, sociology, and social psychology. The author combines his explanation of socioeconomic analysis with the presentation of several examples that illustrate the application of his method to different analytical problems. The book is organized into three parts. In part 1, the author shows how socioeconomic analysis might be applied to the educational systems described in Plato's "Republic" and Lerner's "The Passing of Traditional Society." He then presents a model that attempts to capture selected aspects of the relationship between modern societal change and higher education curriculum. Part 2 discusses two models, one dealing with the curricular implications of changes in teacher supply and demand, and one dealing with the dynamics of change in American higher education during the 1960s. Part 3 first presents a model designed to describe the social dynamics within a school and then offers a detailed analysis of teacher-student interaction within a particular course. (Author/JG)