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Meritocracy, Social Mobility and a New Form of Class Domination
- Source :
-
British Journal of Sociology of Education . 2020 41(1):64-79. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Meritocracy is used by governments in many societies as an 'effective' way to represent social justice and legitimise -- explain away -- class inequality. By focusing on a small number of working-class students who achieve academic 'success' and have reached elite universities in an ideal meritocratic environment -- Chinese schooling -- this paper aims to discuss the relation of meritocracy to upward social mobility and class domination. Our analysis raises questions about the notion of 'success' in a meritocratic environment and suggests the operation of a new form of symbolic domination in relation to these working-class high-achievers. Through their 'successes' at school, they are distanced from their working-class localities and histories, while they also remain outside of the middle-class sensibilities that they aspire to -- they become a 'third class' whose core values reside in meritocracy itself. There is no transcendence of class here rather a different form of distinction and exclusion.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0142-5692
- Volume :
- 41
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- British Journal of Sociology of Education
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- EJ1239085
- Document Type :
- Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2019.1665496