Conceptual and Methodological Innovations in Research into Educational Inequalities

This paper provides a survey of the key thematic and methodological milestones in research into educational inequalities. The article focuses on authors and concepts that introduced major innovations and contributed to significant advancements in the analysis and knowledge of educational inequalities. We have distinguished three periods, focusing on two key concepts in each. The first period is represented by the basic model of the process of stratification and the social-psychological model. The second period includes the educational allocation concept and the theory of maximally maintained inequality (MMI). Finally, the third period is described on the grounds of the multinomial transition model and the theory of effectively maintained inequality (EMI). Across these development stages, three of the above-mentioned concepts are presented as breakthrough methodological innovations while another three concepts are viewed as thematic (interpretational) innovations, closely linked to the development of quantitative methods used to analyse educational inequalities.