Originally published in 1970, Social Class, Language and Communication explores the different effects of parental social class, the ability and sex of the child and a measure of the mother’s reported communication to her child, upon aspects of five-year-old children’s speech. The study shows the relationship between a measure of linguistic flexibility in children and their family’s social class position and includes the construction and application of an index of maternal communication and control. Today it can be read in its historical context.