Symbolic Violence in the Classroom: Future Teachers’ Stratification Beliefs

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Abstract

This paper explores the stratification beliefs of American teachers. Findings are based on data from semi-structured interviews with 25 college students in a teacher education program at a Mid-Atlantic American university. Data were analyzed utilizing grounded theory methods. Participants’ beliefs were highly individualistic concerning general inequality and economic inequality, mixed concerning poverty and racial inequality, and highly structuralist concerning gender inequality. There was also strong support for the notion of the U.S. as a meritocratic land of widespread opportunity where citizens have a high degree of individual agency. There was weak support for government anti-poverty and inequality-reduction efforts. We discuss these results and their implications for the process of socialization in American schools.

Authors

• Lawrence Michael Eppard, Shippensburg University

• Troy Okum, Shippensburg University

• Ying Yang, Shippensburg University