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nor any important redistribution of power, since nationaliza tion was
not accompan ied by any majo r reorgani zation of the ind ustries con–
cerned in the direction of conferring power on the mass of emp loyees.
Wes tergaard and Resler devo te considerable attention to educa–
tional opportunity, and this p rovides the most immedia te point of
comparison be tween their work and tha t of Bowl es and Gintis. "The
story of the grow th of public education," the former authors say, " is a
case study in the mix ture of pressures tha t have swoll en sta te activi–
ti es. " P ress ure fo r the expansion of education as a social good has been
mi ng led with a strong emphasis o n the need for creating a capable,
adaptable and diligent labor force. " Preoccupa tions w ith political
pacifica tio n, industrial discip line, and above all labor recruitment and
proficiency, have bo th joined and clashed with more liberal concerns to
expand sta te acti vity in thi s field; and they do so still. " Educa tion has
certa inl y no t p roved to be the instrument of p roducing social change
that some have hoped it would be: the distribution of educational
opportuniti es reflects the broader d ispa rities of wealth and p ri vil ege in
the social sys tem. Such di sparities, Westergaard and Resler hold,
cannot be exp la ined in terms of inherited d ifferen ces in
LQ.
levels.
Even if we were
to
accept the cl aims made by psychologists on beh alf o f
I.Q. tests, as measuring " inna te intell ectual po tentiality, " it remains
the case tha t educa tional a ttainment is strongly conditioned by class
differences, fo r the rela tionship between class and educational a ttain–
ment ho lds even if measured I.Q. is held con stant.
Bowles and Gintis take up mos t of these issues in much grea ter
detail , and against the background of a schoo l system which h as been
for a long time, nominall y a t leas t, less elitist than tha t in Britain.
T heir distincti ve emphasis upon the educational system, as compared
to Wes tergaard and Resler, is more than simpl y a matter o f their
choosing to concentra te their efforts upon a particul ar socia l institu–
tion. For in the United Sta tes, the labor movement has no t become the
central core o f pressures for social reform, much less revolution , and
the deba tes whi ch in Britain have focused onl y pa rtl y upo n the sphere
of educa ti on have tended in the United Sta tes to clu ster mo re strong ly
there, as the p rime vehicl e for rea lizing wha t Bowles and G intis ca ll the
"technocra ti c-meritocra ti c" values so vita l
to
American ideo logy. In
the United Sta tes, according to Bowl es and Gintis, "The educa tional
sys tem, perhaps more than an y o ther contemporary social institution ,
has become the la bo ra to ry in which competin g soluti on s to the
problems o f personal liberty and social equality are tes ted and the
arena in whi ch social struggles are fo ught out. " Liberal effo rts a t
