Schooling choice in South Africa: The limits of qualifications and the politics of race, class and symbolic power

Hunter, Mark

doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2015.04.004

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 23 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…South African law states that a child may not be turned away from a public school, once admitted, on grounds of fees. The state supports over 60% of the nation’s public schools (Hunter, 2015, p. 42). Public schools that do charge fees enjoy relative autonomy and can practise selective admission.…”

Section: Comparative Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, good township schools are scarce and scattered while there is more choice for the more centrally located neighbourhoods. As a result, there is a lot of home-to-school mobility – children being bussed to schools outside their neighbourhoods – which arguably has done more for school desegregation than changes in residential patterns (Hofmeyr, 2000; Hunter, 2015).…”

Section: Comparative Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cultural repertoires of school choice: Intersections of class, race and culture in Pretoria and Amsterdam

Foli

Boterman

2022

The Sociological Review

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In school choice literature, class-based strategies for social reproduction of the middle classes are often the central explanatory framework. While race, ethnicity and other social categories are increasingly included in the analysis, they are often treated as secondary to class. Drawing on interviews from a racially and socio-culturally mixed sample of middle-class parents in Pretoria and Amsterdam, this study aims to contribute to existing theories on school choice and social reproduction through a comparison of contrasting cases. It takes the dominant theoretical framework of middle-class strategizing as a starting point to explain parental practices of school choice. The comparative analysis finds some remarkable homologies of school choice in Pretoria and Amsterdam, but also points to specific local and historical complexity and specificity of parents’ motivations. In both contexts, parents call on intersecting aspects of their identity beyond their classed position. While we acknowledge the relevance of social class, we suggest that middle-class parents’ school choice should be understood as ‘strategies of action’ emanating from classed and racial (dis)positions but also cultural and religious repertoires rooted in a multidimensional tool-kit.

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Section: Comparative Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Comparative Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%