This paper focuses on the recent developments in the "new" sociology of education in the UK and Japan in order to clarify the dynamics of relationship between "theory" and "reality." The "new" sociology of education, an academic movement which originated in the UK in the early 1970s, was once said to bring about a paradigm shift in the sociology of education. Drastic changes in the British educational system have resulted in a fundamental transformation of research conditions. As a result, ironically, we can see interesting develoments in the "new" sociology of education. The "new" sociology of education was immediately imported into Japan. However, its application to the Japanese educational context has not been successful so far. "Visionary theorism" and "Parrlassian empiricism" in the Japanese sociology of education have prevented the successful development of the "new" sociology of education in Japan. Ethnography, an essential component of the "new" sociology of education with a relatively long tradition in the UK, can be the primary means of fulfilling the promises of the "new" sociology of education in Japan and revitalizing the interaction between "theory" and "reality." "Reflexive realism" should play a vital role in this research program.