ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the early school ethnographies and how they were born out of specific trends in sociological theory concerning social class. It provides an analysis of more recent work on ethnography in schooling where shifts in theory have brought forth new areas of exploration, particularly around school effects. The chapter draws draw brief attention to institutional habitus and school effects as theoretical attempts to understand school life and its consequences, before positioning an argument concerning how school ethnography may be enhanced by attention to Smith's approach to institutional ethnography and "the study of the everyday" as an alternative to what is considered a more mainstream sociological approach. It briefly highlights how schooling today is influenced by neoliberal governance. Neoliberalism, with its economic and social policies, promotes the primacy of the market and unrestricted flows of capital while exacerbating inequality and further entrenching those living in poverty.
