Various sociological perspectives have been applied to facilitate school choice research over the past two decades, as showcased in this "2020 Yearbook of Politics of Education Association." Among them, Pierre Bourdieu's concepts and theories stand out as a catalyst for the field's sociological development. My first objective in this…

Despite the United States being one of the wealthiest countries in the world, homelessness remains a significant problem across the nation. It is a complex issue that involves many different factors, such as socioeconomic status, housing costs, degree of external support, and mental/physical health. The causes of homelessness also vary…

In this article we describe evolving educational aspirations and practices of female high school students and their families in the context of rapidly changing education and employment markets in Kolkata. We interviewed 35 families of girls attending two government high schools. The families are from lower middle-class and lower income…

Gentrification is a complex issue with very real repercussions for urban youth. Games make learning fun and provide a way for students to explore complex systems through recursive play. We describe a board game designed to help students explore ratios and proportional reasoning while simultaneously engaging the causes and effects of…

Kappan editor Rafael Heller interviews Annette Lareau about her research into different experiences of childhood and family life. In her observations of families of different social classes, she learned that upper-middle-class families approach parenting as an act of "concerted cultivation" requiring ongoing attention, making them more…

This paper examines how the English educational state has consistently acted to support private schooling in areas where fee-paying schools would be otherwise financially unviable. Educational data on private school participation since the 2008 financial crisis reveals the stark regional divides between London and the South-East of England and the…

Jessica Calarco explains in this article that students from different backgrounds tend to manage problems in contrasting ways that can have real consequences in the classroom. More specifically, Calarco observed children from middle-class families tended to actively seek help from their teachers, while children from working-class families…

In the United States, one is born into a family that can be identified as working class, middle class, or affluent--divisions that denote status and power, as defined by access to resources. This article explores the relationships between social class membership and a wide array of personal and social daily life experiences. It concludes with a…

This paper develops a new analysis of homework by building on feminist scholarship which documents the invisible labour done by women in support of their children's education. While numerous studies have examined the relationship between homework and achievement, little attention has been paid to the largely gendered and potentially stressful…

This article documents the authors' efforts over the last several years to move themselves as well as their undergraduate women's studies students beyond the constraints of the Marxist legacy, in which class immediately registers as working class. In the process of teaching Women and Class, they discovered that class was largely invisible to their…

With the launch of the "My School" website in 2010, Australia became a relative latecomer to the publication of national school performance comparisons. This paper primarily seeks to explore the school choice experience as framed by "My School" website, for participating middle-class families. We will draw on Bourdieusian…

Positioning theory provides a lens through which to view the narrative accounts of working-class parents as dynamic, intentional acts of positioning intended to gain the recognition of school personnel as full partners in the education of their children. Knowing that school personnel will not treat them with the kind of respect given middle-class…

In part prompted by a recent spate of media reports this paper explores the emergence of a "new squirearchy" in the English countryside. In doing so, it aims to both illuminate a particular facet of rural social life and help reignite interest in the cultures of rural class. Whilst relationships between rural class and culture were a…

Dutro discusses an analysis of the disconnect between the material realities of the lives of a group of third-grade children living in poverty and the middle-class assumptions of a district-mandated unit within a literacy curriculum. The analysis arose in the context of an ethnographic study of identity and classroom literacy practices; it was…

This article argues that narratives forecasting spectacular mobility for Black people/people of color along with the growth of the Black middle class function as proof that America "works" and that the American dream is obtainable for all. However, what is concealed within this "meritocratic" discourse is that full acceptance into this society is…