A.10. Privatization of Education, Segregation and Inequalities

Many countries are experiencing growth in private education, reflecting state retrenchment from educational provision and the rise of liberal thinking that promotes parental school choice and competition. Choosing a private school may be guided by adherence to moral and ethical principles associated with a specific religious framework, but it is also frequently part of a deliberate strategy to avoid public schools with higher share of lower-class and minority students (Oberti 2007).

Prior research indicates that the expansion of private education complicates public authorities’ efforts to ensure equal educational opportunity, increases school segregation, and has little impact on educational achievement (Dupriez et al. 2023). This session focuses on the broader societal consequences of private schooling expansion, examining its implications for social cohesion and the functioning of contemporary democracies. We aim to explore how private education affects relationships between different social and ethno-racial groups and the assumption of meritocracy, thereby potentially challenging social cohesion (Janmatt 2014). The status and functioning of private schools vary greatly across and within educational systems and may produce heterogeneous effects that we aim to investigate.

We welcome proposals from around the world using quantitative and/or qualitative methods to address the following questions:

-          How education privatization affects school segregation and, more generally, inter-class and inter-ethnic relationships?

-          What are the consequences for injustice, discrimination, or even discontent and political protest?

-          What types of relationships are established between public and private education? Are local “deprivatization” initiatives emerging, and what are their effects on inequalities?