This article explores the social construction of cultural diversity in education, with a view to social justice. It examines how educational systems organize ethno-cultural difference and how this process contributes to inequalities. Theoretical resources are drawn from social philosophy as well as from recent developments in social organisation theory. It is argued that ethnic minority pupils face multiple sources of inequalities, of a social (redistributive) and cultural (recognition) nature. The first section argues that these dimensions are made more "durable" through institutionalized patterns of norms and routines. The second section develops this proposal at three empirical levels: the macro-level of educational systems, where national narratives interact with structural educational patterns to shape ethnic inequalities; the intermediate level of "local spaces of interdependency", where we scrutinize segregation and institutional discrimination; and, finally in this section, we look at single-school "policies of difference" as the product of educational "niches". In the last section, the author argues that these multiple embedded inequalities significantly determine pupils' opportunities, identity and "capability" building. New perspectives for multilevel approaches to inequality and qualitative international comparison are suggested.