This book examines the relationship among education, work, and social capital at the beginning of the 21st century. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's 15 chapters: (1) necessity, work, effort, and leisure; (2) the economic and work-related aims of education, including liberal, vocational, and civic education; (3) the conceptualization of economic life and the consumptionist tradition inherited from Adam Smith and also found in the work of Marx; (4) the conceptualization of economic life and the political economy as discussed by List; (5) moral education and work (with special emphasis on paid employment and the continuing of education through the social demands and relationships arising in the workplace); (6) vocational education and vocational training (the misconception of vocational education as training, differences between training and conditioning, the importance of assessment in vocational education); (7) learning in the workplace; (8) two rival conceptions of vocational education; (9) education and labor markets; (10) education, well-being, and economic growth (vocational education as a process of formation); (11) the social value of work; (12) education and the "end-of-work" thesis; (13) education and work in a social capital perspective; and (14) policy issues related to schooling, qualifications, and the transition to work. (Contains 189 references.) (MN)