Life Chances, Education and Social Movements
'Life Chances, Education and Social Movements' explains the sociology of life chances; the opportunities and experiences of different generations in Australia, the United States and the UK; and how the differential distribution of life-enhancing opportunities affects our well-being. Ralf Dahrendorf’s life-chances theory is used to support the theoretical and empirical arguments in Lyle Munro’s book. For Dahrendorf, education is arguably the most important option individuals can utilise for improving their well-being and for overcoming social and economic disadvantages. While there are countless sociological accounts of inequality, Munro’s study takes a different and novel approach based on Dahrendorf’s model, according to which education and social movements and their networks function to enhance the life chances of individuals and social groups respectively.
Lyle Munro is an honorary research fellow at Federation University Australia, having taught sociology at Monash University from 1990 to 2010. Munro’s published books cover the history, philosophy and sociology of the animal rights movement in Australia, the UK and the United States: Compassionate Beasts: The Quest for Animal Rights (2001) and Confronting Cruelty: Animals, Moral Orthodoxy and the Challenge of the Animal Rights Movement (2005).