ABSTRACT
In this chapter the evidence is introduced for being relatively pessimistic or optimistic about what schools can achieve. We have two views of the same phenomena. Or are the phenomena the same? On the one hand a constellation of theoretical, empirical, political and ideological thinking convincingly suggests that class and culturally and socially based ‘capital’ determines success at school. The rich and powerful will always be rich and powerful because schools are instrumental in the stratification of society. Either intentionally or unwittingly, the dominant group wishes and acts to maintain its position. On the other hand an equally powerful constellation of thinking and researching argues that schooling can reduce inequalities in that very capital. Schools can create mobility, make social stratification more febrile, enable children to move out of ‘poverty traps,’ and in the extreme cases education and literacy can be emancipatory.
