A sociology for our times?

Abstract

Olive Banks’ study of the sharp contrasts of ‘parity and prestige’ in English secondary education was published when sociological study of education was only beginning in Britain. It fitted neatly into that study’s preoccupation with the interactions of social class, educational opportunity and social mobility. This paper is not an updating of her analysis, but an application of her perspective to some later manifestations of those interactions. It considers in particular the continuing market value of traditional academic schooling, the continued segregation of educational routes, and the ‘waste’ of ability through ‘modernised’ forms of social selection.

Keywords:

• social class
• educational opportunity
• meritocracy