Comment on Simone Sarti, 'A Different Perspective to Investigate Social Inequalities: the Relationship between Height and Education in Italy'

This paper comments on Simone Sarti's study of the relationship between height andeducation in twentieth-century Italy. Sarti used information on the heights of men and womento explore the relationship between social status and years of schooling. The current paperfocuses on three key aspects of this work. It begins by exploring the relationship between heightand social class, and asks how this might have changed over the course of the period. It thenexamines Sarti's contribution to our understanding of the anthropometric history of Italy duringthe twentieth century. The third section discusses the impact of changes in Italian educationpolicy on the question of educational equality. The paper concludes by offering some additionalsuggestions for further work in this field.