About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about how Bourdieu’s ideas have been built upon by more recent critical educational research, focusing in particular on: (i) John Goldthorpe’s quantitative analyses of education and its effects on the class system and social mobility; (ii) Diane Reay’s qualitative approach, which draws on Bourdieu’s notions of capital and habitus to explore working class students’ experiences in different educational settings.

About the lecturer

Dr Eric Lybeck is Presidential Fellow at the Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester. His recent research focuses on the sociology of education, especially the university sector. He is author of The University Revolution: Outline of a Processual Theory of Modern Higher Education (2021) and Norbert Elias and the Sociology of Education (2019), and co-editor of Reconstructing Social Theory, History and Practice (2017).