Traditional Marxist approaches to the state relegate superstructural institutions like the school to a minor role in the process of social change. More recent theories like those of Gramsci, Althusser, and Poulantzas raise the state and the class struggle in the state apparatuses to a much more prominent position: superstructure, including the state, is crucial to the reproduction of labor power and the relations in production, and crises in the superstructure are a fundamental element in the process of change. Schooling, therefore, takes on a new importance in recent Marxist theories of society. The primary purpose of formal education is to reproduce the existing power relations--the domination of one group over others--from generation to generation without the use of violence. This is seen in recent analyses of education in France and the U.S. However, the overproduction of educated persons is creating disruptive potential for the workplace as well as for the educational system, resulting in a falling commodity value of education. Such inherent contradictions decrease the mediating potential of schools. (Author/JK)