Towards an interactive sociological rational choice approach to theorising class dimensions of school choice

Understanding how different groups of users make choices is central to explaining the outcomes of choice-based mechanisms such as those observed in education systems across different national contexts. We discuss two established perspectives employed to explain decision-making in relation to class and education, and develop an argument for the superior explanatory potential of an elaborated, interactive, sociological rational choice perspective. We illustrate how this framework may be operationalised to inform policy aimed at reducing class differentials in school choice and subsequent educational outcomes in the context of New Public Management ideas.