Introduction to the Special Section: Educational Paths, Social Inequalities and Life Trajectories

The essay presents the aims and the contents of the special issue of the Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, outlining the national and international scientific and political contexts.The purpose of the guest editors was to bring together scientists from different social sciences to develop an interdisciplinary understanding of how characteristics of educational systems (primary, secondary and tertiary education) are related to various sorts of social inequalities, promoting the sharing of theoretical and empirical reflections.The largely debated question is about whether the educational system can effectively overcome social inequalities, or just merely reflect or even intensify them. In order to deal with such a question it is necessary to recognize the multidimensional nature of contemporary inequality, as the focus of debates on inequality has become ever more complex over time, involving more of the traditional dimensions regarding inequality, such as class, race, gender and disability. The articles investigate: the societal production of young people’s careers perspectives; the Senian Capability Approach in an educational perspective; the impact of the socioeconomic status on the educational trajectories and outcomes of second-generation individuals; the relationship between educational/training processes and the world of work; the characteristics of excellence in schools' performance; the heterogeneity across Italian macro-regions in grading standards (degree of strictness in attributing marks by teachers) and in the coherence between teachers' marks and students' test scores; the role of socioeconomic origin on educational achievements from the very beginning of scholarization; the first stage of the process of student transition to university; the higher education open entry policy in light of the current marketization and over-qualification phenomena.