Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article analyses the profound transformations in French higher education, particularly in undergraduate studies, through the lens of a new school selection regime. The authors identify two major "school explosions" that expanded access to university, while simultaneously reproducing and exposing social inequalities. The growing segmentation of educational pathways reveals strong class and gender divides. The rise of "professionalising" degrees and market-driven logic challenge the university’s autonomy and critical role. Although access to higher education has widened, actual knowledge acquisition remains unequal, particularly among working-class students. The authors offer a critical reflection on the shifting relationship between cultural and economic capital and argue that the gap between diplomas and real learning is widening. By problematizing the current role of cultural capital and its relationship with economic capital, the article proposes a critical reading of the gap between diplomas and acquired knowledge.They advocate for a truly democratic education system that guarantees meaningful appropriation of academic knowledge through explicit, demanding, and inclusive teaching.
Authors: Cédric Hugrée, Tristan Poullaouec
Language: English
Topic: Social and Cultural Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4414511588
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