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Globally, more people have access to higher levels of education than ever before (UNESCO, 2003a). And yet, it is not apparent that social mobility has thereby followed. Examining the consequences of educational expansion, several researchers have observed the perpetuation of existing social divisions and even the intensification of inequalities (Bondi & Matthews, 1988; Brown, 1995; Goldthorpe, 1996).5
Perhaps surprisingly, the impact of educational and occupational changes on the middle class has attracted particular attention. With respect to the reproduction of class privilege in a modern capitalist society, Parkin (1979) described ‘two main exclusionary devices’ (p. 47) by which the middle class is constructed and maintained—property and credentials. At that time, postsecondary education was very much a minority concern. Since the 1970s, however, particularly within postindustrial societies, university entrance has almost become the ‘normal’ progression following school.6 The middle class no longer has exclusive ownership of the rewards accruing from access to higher education, with consequences for their social reproduction.7
The democratisation of access to higher education has been accompanied by the growing dependency of the middle class on academic credentials for their social reproduction through access to professional occupations (Brown, 1995). No longer assured of their academic success, they have increasingly employed a variety of ‘exclusionary tactics […] at a time of profound personal and social uncertainty and insecurity’, designed to maintain their status and privileged lifestyles (Brown et al., 1997, p. 14). These tactics include the accumulation and exchange of different forms of capital.
Bourdieu (1986) provided the most systematic and developed account of the role of capital, in its various guises, in the stratification of society and the reproduction of social status. Simply put, access to capital determines life chances, and this process tends to be self-perpetuating.