In this book, part of the 21st Century Standpoints series published in association with the British Sociological Association, Diane Reay, herself working class turned Cambridge professor, brings Brian Jackson and Dennis Marsden's pioneering Education and the Working Class from 1962 up to date for the 21st century. The book addresses the urgent question of why the working classes are still faring so much worse than the upper and middle classes in education, and vitally – what we can do to achieve a fairer system.