This book investigates the social construction of mathematics within educational settings, questioning how pedagogical texts and classroom practices reinforce specific cultural myths about the nature of mathematics. Paul Dowling, a prominent scholar in the sociology of education, utilizes a framework rooted in social semiotics and structuralism to analyze how school mathematics is produced and consumed. He argues that mathematics education is not a neutral transmission of objective knowledge but a social activity that functions to position students and teachers within hierarchies of power and identity.

Experts in the field of mathematics education recognize this work as a foundational text for understanding the sociological dimensions of classroom practice. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which requires a strong background in social theory to fully grasp the author's structuralist methodology.