State Schooling and the Reproduction of Social Inequalities: Contesting Lived Inequalities through Participatory Methods

178 Pages·2022·2.542 MB·English

by  Sharon Jones

This book makes a fresh and much-needed contribution to the under-
standing of the education of the working class. It is methodologically
unique and theoretically rich. Sharon Jones renews Marxist analyses of
educational disadvantage and the role of education in the distribution of
opportunities.
Dr Spyros Themelis, University of East Anglia

State Schooling and the Reproduction of
Social Inequalities
This book critically explores the role of state schooling in the reproduction
of social class inequalities in the UK. By uniquely combining critical eth-
nographic methods with participatory and visual research, it foregrounds the
experiences and recollections of working class adults in relation to their past
schooling.
Drawing upon her own lived experiences, Jones theorises the experiences
of her participants using an analysis of Marxist, Bourdieusian and Freirean
frameworks to uncover relations of power and illustrate how schooling has
reduced individual agency and sustained lived inequalities. By creating space
for a Visual Intervention within Critical Ethnography (VICE) alongside her
analysis of class and society, Jones successfully illuminates that working class
struggles are not permanent, and that agency can be activated. The book also
addresses an important need by centring research from the lived educational
experiences of the working class, and, in particular, working class adults. Mak-
ing a unique theoretical and methodological contribution using an innovative
combined methodology approach, the text ultimately highlights the potential
of empowering disadvantaged individuals by raising critical consciousness.
Though it is focussed on the experiences of adults, this book has important
understandings for all sectors of education and will be of interest to academ-
ics, researchers and students interested in the sociology of education, research
methods in education, social inequality, social class and education politics.
Sharon Jones completed her PhD in Sociology of Education at Anglia Ruskin
University, UK.
Routledge Studies in Education, Neoliberalism, and Marxism
Series editor Dave Hill, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford
and Cambridge, England
22. Critical Reflections on the Language of Neoliberalism in Education
Dangerous Words and Discourses of Possibility
Edited by Spyros Themelis
23. The Impacts of Neoliberal Discourse and Language in Education:
Critical Perspectives on a Rhetoric of Equality, Well-Being, and Justice
Edited by Mitja Sardoč
24. The Emergence of Postfeminist Identities in Higher Education
Neoliberal Dynamics and the Performance of Gendered Subjectivities
Eleftheria Atta
25. Social Haunting, Education, and the Working Class
A Critical Marxist Ethnography in a Former Mining Community
Kat Simpson
26. Artificial Intelligence in the Capitalist University
Academic Labour, Commodification, and Value
John Preston
27. Neoliberalism and Public Education Finance Policy in
CanadaReframing Educational Leadership as Entrepreneurship
Wendy Poole, Vicheth Sen, and Gerald Fallon
28. Progressive Neoliberalism in Education
Critical Perspectives on Manifestations and Resistance
Edited by Ajay Sharma, Mardi Schmeichel, and Elizabeth Wurzburg
29. State Schooling and the Reproduction of Social Inequalities
Contesting Lived Inequalities through Participatory Methods
Sharon Jones
State Schooling and the
Reproduction of Social
Inequalities
Contesting Lived Inequalities through
Participatory Methods
Sharon Jones
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Sharon Jones
The right of Sharon Jones to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jones, Sharon (Ph.D.), author.
Title: State schooling and the reproduction of social inequalities :
contesting lived inequalities through participatory methods / Sharon Jones.
Description: First Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2023. | Series:
Routledge studies in education, neoliberalism, and Marxism | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022031630 (print) | LCCN 2022031631 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032192215 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781032192222 (Paperback) | ISBN
9781003258216 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Education--Social aspects--Great Britain. | Social
classes--Great Britain. | Students--Great Britain--Social conditions. |
Discrimination in education--Great Britain. | Educational
equalization--Great Britain. | Education and state--Great Britain. |
Ethnology--Great Britain.
Classification: LCC LC191.8.G7 J66 2023 (print) | LCC LC191.8.G7 (ebook) |
DDC 306.40941--dc23/eng/20220930
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031630
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031631
ISBN: 978-1-032-19221-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-19222-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-25821-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003258216
Typeset in Goudy
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
I am dedicating this book to my family for their support and
patience during all those moments I have been busy writing

Contents
Acknowledgements xii
Stepping out of Line?: An Autobiographical Reflection of
Growing up Working Class, to Becoming Educated and
Moving beyond the Status Quo 1
Childhood Memoirs 1
Schooling and Education Memoirs 6
Professional Memoirs 11
Becoming Critical 13
Conclusion: The Need for Research on Class and Education 15
Notes 15
References 16
1 Class, State Schooling and Social Inequality in the UK:
Historical and Current Context 17
History of Social Class, Capitalist Society and State Schooling and
Education 17
The Role of State Schooling and Education in Capitalist Society 24
Social Class and Educational Outcomes 31
Conclusion: Class Relations, States Schooling and the Inequality of
Outcome 33
Note 34
References 34
2 Applying Marxist, Bourdieusian and Freirean Theories to
the Study of Social Class and Schooling 42
Marx and Marxism 42
Contemporary Class Theories 51
The New Sociology of Education 54