This paper takes up again the analysis of the difficulties faced by the attempts to democratize education led by international organizations since the end of the Second World War. Is it a crisis of the very political project (democratization would be a utopia that does not stand the test of reality) or a crisis of the apparatus (comprehensive schools [collège unique], lengthening of compulsory schooling, etc.) on which the project implementation was built? This analysis stresses a parallel recomposition of the forms of Justice and State. The conceptions of Justice have become diversified and equality is just a definition among others. Other references have emerged: obligation of results, acknowledgement of differences, etc.. The main argument is that the State did not back down before the market but changed its form. It passed from a welfare State promising equal chances to a managerial State warranting the obligation of results. The text concludes with some clues to resume benefit sharing policies in the field of education.
Education Policies; France; Social Justice; State; Sociology