The Politics of Goal Regulation: Race, Power, and Student Aspirations

• In Event: Sociocultural Origins and Processes of Student Motivation: Advancing Theory, Informing Research, and Transforming Practice

Abstract

Objectives. This paper aims to reframe dominant understandings of goal regulation by embedding it within a racialized ecological framework. Rather than treating motivation as a race-neutral, cognitive process, we examine how racially minoritized students regulate goals in response to systemic inequities, cultural wealth, and resistance. The purpose is to advance a liberatory model of goal regulation that challenges deficit-based assumptions in educational psychology and offers a justice-oriented alternative for understanding student motivation.

Theoretical Perspectives. Our framework integrates and extends Kim et al.’s (2023) multiple goals regulation model through the lenses of critical race theory and ecological systems theory. We draw on Spencer’s (1995, 2006) Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST), Oishi’s Social Ecological Model (2010), and Vargas and Saetermoe’s (2024) liberation psychology approach. These theories provide a foundation for understanding how goal regulation is shaped not only by internal processes but also by students’ navigation of structural oppression, community-based resilience, and acts of epistemic resistance.

Modes of Inquiry. This paper uses critical conceptual analysis to interrogate the race-evasiveness of mainstream motivation theories and to develop a revised theoretical model. We synthesize interdisciplinary literature across motivation science, critical psychology, and sociology of education. Through this analysis, we identify how existing frameworks, by omitting race and power, reproduce epistemic injustice, and we theorize new processes that reflect how students of color negotiate structural barriers and reimagine success.

Data Sources. As a theoretical contribution, this paper draws on a range of scholarly sources and illustrative material, including case examples from community-based research in the Bronx. These materials serve to contextualize the proposed constructs—constraint-driven goal switching, epistemic goal shielding, and resistance-driven goal adaptation—and to demonstrate how students’ experiences challenge colorblind motivational models. We also incorporate insights from critical scholars (e.g., Yosso, 2005; Fricker, 2007) and emerging work on liberation-centered educational psychology (Vargas & Saetermoe, 2024).

Results. The resulting framework conceptualizes goal regulation as a sociopolitical act of self-determination. It illustrates how students’ self-regulatory processes are deeply shaped by racialized opportunity structures, institutional barriers, and collective forms of resilience. Unlike traditional models that interpret goal regulation through meritocratic or individualistic lenses, this model accounts for how students resist exclusion, redefine success, and mobilize cultural resources. The proposed framework offers a more expansive and justice-aligned account of student motivation that is rooted in lived experience and critical consciousness.

Scholarly Significance. This paper makes a significant theoretical contribution by centering race, power, and community in the study of motivation. It critiques the implicit colorblindness of dominant frameworks and calls for a paradigm shift in motivation research. By proposing a racialized ecological model of goal regulation, this work advances a liberatory approach to self-regulation—one that not only accounts for constraint but also foregrounds agency, resistance, and joy. It provides a foundation for future empirical and methodological innovations that align with equity-centered educational practice.

Authors

• Akane Zusho, Fordham University

• Revathy Kumar, University of Toledo