ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that the body has a far greater social significance than is allowed by existing approaches towards Physical Education. After outlining a view of the body as a form of physical capital, the chapter suggests how this view of the corporeal may help people examines how schools have historically been involved in the production of physical capital in ways which bestow unequal opportunities on individuals from different social backgrounds. The body is seen as fundamental both to schooling and to the social class location of different groups in society. Social class is most commonly conceptualized in the sociology of education as membership of an occupational category and this is how the 'access' approach views class. In studying the relationship between schooling and social inequalities, the sociology of education has tended to focus on cognitive development, certification and social mobility. The physical capital of the dominant class can be converted into social and cultural capital.
