Professor Stephen J Ball is emeritus professor of sociology of education at the UCL Institute of Education. His main areas of interest are in education policy analysis and social theory:
– changes in governance and new state modalities
– the global education reform movement
– the relationships between education and education policy and social class.

He brings to bear on these issues the tools and concepts of ‘policy sociology’ and in particular the methods of Michael Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. In 2008 he was involved in launching BERA’s Social Theory and Education special interest group.