Education
Chapter 10  Key Themes

• Meritocracy is a system of stratification based on the allocation of position or occupation according to merit, especially associated with educational qualifications. The idea of a meritocracy is important in considering the nature of social class (see Chapter 5). However, meritocracy has resonances in other substantive areas, such as work, (see Chapter 19 'Work and non-Work').
  
• Correspondence theory suggests that there is a correspondence, or structural similarity, between the nature of work in capitalist societies and the pattern of education. Thus education helps to create the conditions for the reproduction and legitimisation of inequality. The theoretical basis for the theory can be found in Marxism (see Chapter 17 'The Foundations of Social Theory'). There is also a direct connection to the world of work (Chapter 10) but also to other organisations such as prisons (see Chapter 14 'Crime').
  
• Cultural capital refers to the extent to which individuals have absorbed the dominant culture, and can express that as a resource to further their own interests. The idea is associated with Pierre Bourdieu, who claimed that the greater an individual's cultural capital, the more successful he or she would be in the educational system. Language, and the ability to use language in certain ways, is an important component of cultural capital. Language is explored in more detail in Chapter 19 'Modernity, Postmodernity and Social Theory'. The family (Chapter 9) is the main transmitter of cultural capital, though the media (Chapter 12) also have a role.