ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the importance of attempting to simultaneously keep in mind both 'educational inequality' and 'economic inequality'. It aims to argue for the revival of some fundamental questions for educational researchers, arguing for a wider focus than improving teaching and learning. The English-language translation of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the twenty-first century was published in 2014. Educational Effectiveness Research rests upon a theory of the relative autonomy of schooling from the economy. According to Brink Lindsey, human capital is made up of three elements: cognitive ability as measured by standardised intelligence tests; non-cognitive skills such as motivation, perseverance and sociability and qualifications gained by college and graduate education. Improving human capital is the goal of improving capitalism, and those who argue for it are supportive of capital, and contribute to the 'crowding out' of other educational goals and purposes.
