This book brings together sixteen cutting-edge articles on education and social mobility. It also includes an introductory essay offering a guide to the main issues and controversies addressed by authors from several countries. The book makes an important contribution to our theoretical and empirical understanding of the changing relationship between origins, education and destinations. It is also relevant to policy-makers as education and social mobility are firmly back on both national and global political agendas, seen as key to creating fairer societies and more competitive economies. This book was originally published as a special issue of the British Journal of Sociology of Education.