This article examines student accounts of credentials, talent and academic success, against a backdrop of the enduring liberal ideal of an education-based meritocracy. The article also examines Bourdieu's account of academic qualifications as the dominant source of institutionalised cultural capital, and concludes that it does not adequately…

Compares different levels of student involvement among "academically able" students at two schools. Uses data from these to make connections among the cultures of the schools, family perceptions, and subsequent forms of student involvement. Argues that these connections provide a way to understand facets of respondents' orientations to…