Documenting Reproduction and Inequality: Revisiting Jean Anyon’s “Social Class and School Knowledge”

Abstract

Jean Anyon’s (1981) “Social Class and School Knowledge” was a landmark work in North American educational research. It provided a richly detailed qualitative description of differential, social class–based constructions of knowledge and epistemological stance. This essay situates Anyon’s work in two parallel traditions of critical educational research: the sociology of the curriculum and classroom interaction and discourse analysis. It argues for the renewed importance of both quantitative and qualitative work on social reproduction and equity in the current policy context.