About LCT
A brief introduction to LCT
LCT is having significant impact in education, where it is taught both to educators, as tools for shaping their own practices, and to students, to show them how to succeed. LCT is also being enacted to explore and change practices in all kinds of social arenas, including law courts, art galleries and museums, politics, dance, music, theatre and the media.
As an explanatory framework, LCT offers different kinds of tools:
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descriptive concepts for constructing social phenomena – fields and dispositions, and constellation analysis;
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analytical concepts for revealing their organizing principles – the different species of legitimation codes organized into the dimensions of Specialization, Semantics and Autonomy;
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analytics for visualizing meaningful, significant and actionable patterns in the findings of analyses – planes, profiles and pathways; and
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algorithms for conducting the research generating those analyses – translation devices and activation devices.
Learning about LCT
LCT can be complex but as Karl Maton often says: ‘You only need as much theory as the problem demands, for which you have time or space, or which the audience can handle.’
All LCT concepts, as well as the mindset required to unleash its potential, are introduced and illustrated in the key book for understanding LCT:​ Sociology of Possibility by Karl Maton (2026). This book also includes a glossary that explains how LCT concepts are related and the conventions to use when enacting them.
You are not alone. LCT is the basis of an international and multidisciplinary community of scholars, educators and practitioners who enact the approach in their research and practice. You can connect to this friendly and supportive community through seminars, conferences, research groups, supervisors and social media on the Community page.
Books, papers and PhD theses enacting LCT are available for free download from the Publications database.
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There are many talks available to watch and listen on the LCT YouTube channel.
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If you are looking for examples of LCT in action, check out links to blogs by educators and scholars on the Blogs page.
Exploring Dimensions:
Resource downloads
The following LCT figures can be downloaded as publisher-quality .png files via the button below. If you use them, you must cite them as listed. For permission to reproduce any in a publication, email us through the ‘Contact Us’ form here.
The Specialization Plane
Citation: Maton, K. (2014) Knowledge and Knowers: Towards a realist sociology of education, London: Routledge, page 30.
The Semantic Plane
Citation: Maton, K. (2014) Knowledge and Knowers: Towards a realist sociology of education, London: Routledge, page 131.
The Social Plane
Citation: Maton, K. (2014) Knowledge and Knowers: Towards a realist sociology of education, London: Routledge, page 186.
Three Semantic Proviles
Citation: Maton, K. (2013) Making semantic waves: A key to cumulative knowledge-building, Linguistics and Education, 24: 18–22, page 13.
The Epistemic Plane
Citation: Maton, K. (2014) Knowledge and Knowers: Towards a realist sociology of education, London: Routledge, page 177.
The Autonomy Plane
Citation: Maton, K. (2018) Taking autonomy tours: A key to integrative knowledge-building, LCT Centre Occasional Paper 1, 1–35, page 6.