The way in which the ruling ideas of a social system are related to structures of class, production and power, and how these are legitimated and perpetuated, is fundamental to the sociological project.
In this second edition of this classic text, which includes a new introduction by Pierre Bourdieu, the authors develop an analysis of education (in its broadest sense, encompassing more than the process of formal education). They show how education carries an essentially arbitrary cultural scheme which is actually, though not in appearance, based on power. More widely, the reproduction of culture through education is shown to play a key part in the reproduction of the whole social system.
The analysis is carried through not only in theoretical terms but through the development of empirically testable propositions within the wider framework of the historical transformation of the educational system.
Preface to the Second Edition - Pierre Bourdieu
Foreword - Tom Bottomore
PART ONE: FOUNDATIONS OF A THEORY OF SYMBOLIC VIOLENCE
PART TWO: KEEPING ORDER
Cultural Capital and Pedagogic Communication
The Literate Tradition and Social Conservation
Exclusion and Selection
Dependence through Independence
Appendix
The Changing Structure of Higher Education Opportunities
Redistribution or Translation?