First published in 1982, this collection of essays provides an analysis of education's contradictory role in social reproduction. It looks at the complex relations between the economic, political and cultural spheres of society, both historically and at the time of publication.

Acknowledgements; Authors; 1. Reproduction and contradiction in education: an introduction Michael W. Apple 2. Education and class formation: the peculiarities if the Americans David Hogan 3. Education, economy and the State Martin Carnoy 4. Education and the capitalist State: contributions and contradictions Roger Dale 5. Schooling and the reproduction of patriarchy: unequal workloads, unequal rewards Gail P. Kelly and Ann S. Nihlen 6. The arts in class reproduction Paul DiMaggio and Michael Useem 7. Television's screens: hegemony in transition Todd Gitlin 8. Curricular form and the logic of technical control: building the possessive individual Michael W. Apple 9. Structure, text, and subject: a critical sociology of school knowledge Philip Wexler 10. Codes, Modalities and the process of cultural reproduction: a model Basil Bernstein; Index