ABSTRACT
This chapter theorises the relationship between class, state schooling and education and social inequalities. It follows on from the Chapter 1 whereby social class in the UK and its relationship with the state education system was problematised. Various theories are utilised for the critical theoretical framework that explores this relationship. The aims of this chapter are to argue in favour of a Marxist social class analysis, particularly as Marx discusses exploitation, alienation and consciousness. By extending this analysis, this chapter also argues in favour of Bourdieu’s conceptual tools to provide an insight as to why the working classes do not always recognise their inequality/s as a class struggle. With a lack of space for agency in Bourdieu’s work however, and as Marx himself did not write widely or specifically about education, this chapter further relates to the concept of praxis and the development of critical thinking seen in the work of Paulo Freire.
