ABSTRACT
In the course of his long career, Michael Young has produced two ‘landmark’ texts in the sociology of education: Knowledge and Control and Bringing Knowledge Back In. This chapter argues that it is not merely a coincidence that both were published at moments of ‘crisis’ in capitalism. Whilst Knowledge and Control came at a time when the optimism of the ‘long boom’ was fading and the ‘liberal humanism’ of the school curriculum was being questioned, Bringing Knowledge Back In appeared at a moment when the ‘economic’ base on which schooling was built seemed to be collapsing. The chapter argues for a ‘capital-centred’ reading of Young’s work, and suggests that his calls for ‘powerful knowledge’ to be available to all are in line with ‘socialist’ arguments about the school curriculum.
