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The journal is twenty years old. It was born with the support of an international consortium of scientific institutions which wished to both create a space of expression for French-speaking sociology of education and to inscribe it in a broader space of international dialogue. Issues 40 and 41 are attempting to take into account the evolutions which it has accompanied and analysed during these past twenty years.The first of these is globalisation, which is both a frame and object for sociology and an opening into new spaces of scientific cooperation. This process has led to a return of the preoccupations of integration and moral education, the assertion of sustainable development goals without these new perspectives pushing aside commitments regarding equality, a central aspect of the debates of the previous century.The period has also been marked by important changes in the relations between science, politics and societies. The difficulties of implementing the policies of democratisation have led to a crisis of trust. It has reconstructed itself on the basis of networks of experts and centres of resources linked to international organisations. The processes of disseminating knowledge have likewise been shaken by the development of digital equipment: open science, blogosphere, social media. The competition is increasing between the different dialogues of truth which criss-cross societies.All these evolutions are calling for a renewal of social critique: the definition of a new cosmopolitism open to differences, but intransigent regarding fundamental values, an approach of redistribution which reflects together about the difficulties of the countries of the North and of the countries of the South, democratic operations which do not leave the definition of the common good in the hands of experts.