The "Social Class of Discipline": The Social Construction of Discipline and the Reproduction of Inequality

• In Event: Roundtable Session 36
  In Roundtable Session: International Perspectives on Education Policy and Inequality

Abstract

Research has shown that understanding the issue of student behavior requires acknowledge of racial, ethnic and gender disparity. Using a social class lens and a qualitative approach, this study explores the issue of students’ behavior and discipline in families’ narratives to illustrate how they might contribute to creating and maintaining inequality patterns in schools through school choice in Chile. Through an analysis of interviews and focus groups with families of five elementary schools in one school district, data suggests that mothers' narratives around “discipline” and “student behavior” not only served to justify school choice practices, but to reinforce school segregation. The study concludes by discussing the implications for school inequality in the Chilean education system.

Author

• Romina Madrid Miranda, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities