Continuity of expectation: middle class parents, independent school and 'good' university, or, how social structure aids reproduction

TL;DRAbstract

This paper reflects on some of the findings of a research project funded by a small British Academy grant. Best understood as a series of microstudies, it investigated whether it is possible to develop social capital for working class students in order to assist them in constructing ambitious educational, social and occupational trajectories. In other words, is it possible to reduce these students’ extra-classroom social disadvantage, with particular reference to university attendance, and at the same time neutralise the relative advantage possessed by their middle class peers?

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