Growing up in a classless society?

by Andy Furlong

The idea of a 'classless society' is very much in the forefront of current political debate. For young people who are reaching adulthood and making the difficult transition from school to work, how does this new social order present itself? Dr. Furlong examines this question using material drawn from a nationally representative sample of over 4,000 young people who were contacted over a two and a half year period. He describes their experiences in the light of education's newly acquired emphasis on vocationalism, the growing problem of youth unemployment and the replacement of jobs for school leavers by 'training' schemes. From a desire to investigate whether or not there exists a new sense of equality of opportunity, the conclusion reached is that, despite radical social and educational changes, the experience of young people moving between school and work has been little affected: real progress towards a truly classless society is hard to identify.