ABSTRACT
Although I can no doubt be fairly accused of having already made an overlong contribution to a debate that has itself gone on far too long, I trust that in the interests of clarification just a few more words will be forgiven. Dex acknowledges that one of Goldthorpe’s criticisms of his critics is that they often fail to engage with the central thrust of his arguments (Goldthorpe, 1984c: 491). Despite this, Dex also fails to engage with what Goldthorpe actually argues, at least in some important respects. It should be said, however, that Dex’s failure to do so appears to be based upon her misreading some of his arguments, rather than upon missing their importance. Given that one of my aims has been to make Goldthorpe’s position within this debate as clear as possible, I have taken up my ‘right of reply’ in the hope of setting straight what I see as Dex’s most important misunderstandings.
