ABSTRACT
This chapter offers tentative empirical support of the preceding arguments by providing illustrative examples of differences in student work in classrooms in contrasting social class communities. It provides examples of work and work-related activities in each school that bear on the categories used to define social class. In an attempt to assess the theoretical meaning of the differences among the schools, the work tasks and milieu in each are discussed in light of the concepts used to define social class. The foregoing analysis of differences in school work in contrasting social class contexts suggests the following conclusion: The "hidden curriculum" of school work is tacit preparation for relating to the process of production in a particular way. The causes of these inequalities are not agreed upon, but the part played by socialization in perpetuating them is beginning to receive renewed attention.
