I Justify Myself, Therefore I am. Regimes Of Justification In Chilean Elite Universities
https://doi.org/10.17583/rise.7851
Keywords:
Type:
TextAbstract
Few studies focus on understanding the role of universities in the elites’ legitimation processes. This article examines how elite universities -in the context of Chilean tertiary education massification- actively create privileged statuses. Focusing on eight case studies, we examine how these universities justify their roles and existence, generating distinctions that promote highly exclusive spaces, replicating elite privilege. Through 48 semi-structured interviews, this article focuses on understanding the justification arguments employed by faculty and deans from these elite institutions. Following Boltanski’s and Thévenot’s theoretical model, the results illustrate three different justification regimes: i) arguing for their elite status within the university system; ii) justifying the role they fulfil within Chilean society; and iii) defending their existence in the social structure. These regimes combine arguments relating to social justice, efficiency and market system performance in an eclectic and pragmatic way.
Downloads
References
Atria, J., Castillo, J.C., Maldonado, L. & Ramírez, S. (2020). Economic Elites’ Attitudes Toward Meritocracy in Chile: A Moral Economy Perspective. American Behavioral Scientist, 64(1), 1219-1241.
Google Scholar CrossrefAlbert, V. & Davidenko, M. (2018). Justification work: The homeless workers’ movement and the pragmatic sociology of dissent in Brazil’s crisis. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 5(1–2), 194-217.
Google Scholar CrossrefBathmaker, A.-M. et al. (2016). Higher Education, Social Class and Social Mobility. The Degree Generation. Palgrave-MacMillan.
Google Scholar CrossrefBellei, C. & Cabalin, C. (2013). Chilean Student Movements: Sustained Struggle to Transform a Market-oriented Educational System. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 15(2), 108-123.
Google Scholar CrossrefBoltanski, L. & Thévenot, L. (1991) De la justification: les économies de la grandeur. Éditions Gallimard.
Google Scholar CrossrefBoltanski, L. (2001). A Moral da Rede? Críticas e Justificações nas recentes evoluções do capitalismo. Fórum Sociológico, 5/6, 13–35.
Google Scholar CrossrefBourdieu, P. (1989). La noblesse d’Etat. Grandes écoles et esprit de corps. Les Editions de Minuit.
Google Scholar CrossrefBourdieu, P. (2011). Las estrategias de la reproducción social. Siglo XXI Ediciones.
Google Scholar CrossrefBourdieu, P. & Passeron, J.C. (1964). Les héritiers. Les Editions de Minuit.
Google Scholar CrossrefBrunner, J. (2012). La lucha por la educación de las elites: campo y canales formativos. Revista UDP, 9, 119–143.
Google Scholar CrossrefChauvin, P.-M. (2013). La sociologie des réputations. Une définition et cinq questions. Communications, 93(2), 131–145.
Google Scholar CrossrefCôté, H. & Simard, D. (2009). Le tournant culturel du discours officiel québécois sous l’éclairage de la sociologie de la justification. Canadian Journal of Education, 32(2), 344–365.
Google Scholar CrossrefCousin, B., Khan, S. & Mears, A. (2018). Theoretical and methodological pathways for research on elites. Socio-Economic Review, 16(2), 225–249.
Google Scholar CrossrefDe la Maza, G. (2013) De la elite civil a la elite política: Reproducción del poder en contextos de democratización. Polis, 12(36), 67-100
Google Scholar CrossrefDraelants, H. (2010). Les effets d’attraction des grandes écoles. Excellence, prestige et rapport à l’institution. Sociologie, 3(1), 337–356.
Google Scholar CrossrefFleet, N. & Guzmán-Concha, C. (2016). Mass higher education and the 2011 student movement in Chile: material and ideological implications. Bulletin of Latin American Research, Special Issue, 1-17
Google Scholar CrossrefFernagni, M., Villalobos, C. & Quaresma, M.L. (2023). La construcción del capital político en una universidad de élite. Redes, aprendizajes y estrategias de socialización en la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Universum, 37(1), 159-181.
Google Scholar CrossrefFlick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research. SAGE.
Google Scholar CrossrefForbes, J. & Lingard, B. (2015). Assured optimism in a Scottish girls’ school: habitus and the (re)production of global privilege. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(1), 116–136.
Google Scholar CrossrefGaxie, D. (2017). La démocratie et les élites. Pouvoirs, 161(2), 5-17.
Google Scholar CrossrefGenieys, W. (2011). Sociologie politique des élite. Armand Colin.
Google Scholar CrossrefGérard, É. & Wagner, A.-C. (2015). Introduction: Élites au Nord, élites au Sud: des savoirs en concurrence?. Cahiers de la recherche sur l’éducation et les savoirs, 14, 7–24.
Google Scholar CrossrefGibbs, G. (2007). Analysing qualitative data. SAGE
Google Scholar CrossrefGillies, D. (2007). Excellence and education: rhetoric and reality. Education, knowledge and economy, 1(1), 19–35.
Google Scholar CrossrefGraß, D. (2017). Justification and critique of educational reforms in Austria: how teachers and head teachers (re-)frame new governance. Journal of Social Science Education, 16(4), 60–74.
Google Scholar CrossrefHolden, M. & Scerri, A. (2015). Justification, compromise and test: Developing a pragmatic sociology of critique to understand the outcomes of urban redevelopment. Planning Theory, 14(4), 360–383.
Google Scholar CrossrefImdorf, C. (2017). Understanding discrimination in hiring apprentices: how training companies use ethnicity to avoid organizational trouble. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 69(3), 405–423.
Google Scholar CrossrefJoignant, A. (2011). Tecnócratas, technopols y dirigentes de partido: tipos de agentes y especies de capital en las elites gubernamentales de la Concertación (1990-2010). In A. Joignant & P. Güell (eds.), Notables, tecnócratas y mandarines. Elementos de Sociología de las elites en Chile (1990-2010) (pp. 49-76). Ediciones Diego Portales.
Google Scholar CrossrefKhan, S. (2011). Privilege. the making of an adolescent elite at St. Paul’s School. Princeton & Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefKhan, S. (2012). Elite identities. Identities, 19(4), 477–484.
Google Scholar CrossrefLeeman, R. (2014). How schools deal with expectations of gender equality. Swiss Journal of Sociology, 40(2), 215–236.
Google Scholar CrossrefLittig, B. (2009). Interviewing the elite. In A. Bogner, B. Littig & W. Menz (eds.), Interviewing Experts: Is There a Difference? (pp. 98–113). Macmillan Publishers.
Google Scholar CrossrefMension-Rigau, E. (2007). Aristocrates et grands bourgeois. Éditions Plon.
Google Scholar CrossrefMerle, P. (2002). Democratization or Increase in Educational Inequality? Changes in the Length of Studies in France, 1988-1998. Population, 57(4-5), 631-657.
Google Scholar CrossrefMingat, A., & Duru-Bellat, M. (2011). Measuring excellence and equity in education, conceptual and methodological issues. In P. Van den Branden, Avermaet & M. Houtte (eds.), Equity and excellence in education: towards maximal learning opportunities for all students (pp. 21-38). Routledge.
Google Scholar CrossrefMoya, E. & Hernández., J. (2014). El rol de los colegios de elite en la reproducción intergeneracional de la elite chilena. Revista Austral de Ciencias Sociales, 1(26), 59–82.
Google Scholar CrossrefNeiman, G. & Quaranta, G. (2006). Los estudios de caso en la investigación sociológica. Estrategias de investigación cualitativa, 1, 213–237.
Google Scholar CrossrefNielsen, M. (2014). Justifications of Gender Equality in Academia: Comparing Gender Equality Policies of Six Scandinavian Universities. Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 22(3), 187–203.
Google Scholar CrossrefNúñez, J. & Miranda, L. (2011). Intergenerational income and educational mobility in urban Chile. Estudios de Economía, 38, 195–221.
Google Scholar CrossrefQuaresma, M.L. & Villalobos, C. (2019). Interviewing Elites in the Educational Field. In G. Noblit (ed), Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.502
Google Scholar CrossrefRasmussen, A. & Lingard, B. (2018). Excellence in education policies: Catering to the needs of gifted and talented or those of self-interest? European Educational Research Journal, 17(6), 877-897.
Google Scholar CrossrefRodríguez, J.P (2020). Resisting Neoliberal Capitalism in Chile. Palgrave Macmillan.
Google Scholar CrossrefSalinas, D. & Fraser, P. (2012). Educational Opportunity and Contentious Politics: The 2011 Chilean Student Movement. Berkeley Review of Education, 3(1), 17-47.
Google Scholar CrossrefSavage, M. [et al.] (2013). A New of Social Class? Findings from the BBC’s Great Class Survey Experiment. Sociology, 47(2), 219-250.
Google Scholar CrossrefSidanius, J., Levin, S., Federico, C., & Pratto, F. (2001). Legitimizing ideologies: The social dominance approach. In J.T. Jost & B. Major (eds.), The psychology of legitimacy: Emerging perspectives on ideology, justice, and intergroup relations (pp.307-331). Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefSomma, N., Bargsted, M., Pavlic, R. & Medel, R. (2020). No water in the oasis: the Chilean Spring of 2019–2020. Social Movement Studies. 20(4), 495-502.
Google Scholar CrossrefThumala, M. (2007). Riqueza y piedad. El catolicismo de la elite económica chilena. Editorial Debate.
Google Scholar CrossrefVan Zanten, A., Ball, S. & Darchy-Koechlin, B. (2015). Elites, Privilege and excellence. The national and global redefinition of educational advantage. Routledge.
Google Scholar CrossrefVillalobos, C. & Quaresma, M.L. (2015). Sistema escolar chileno: Características y consecuencias de un modelo orientado al mercado. Revista Convergencia, 22(69), 63-84.
Google Scholar CrossrefVillalobos, C., Treviño, E., Wyman, I., & Scheele, J. (2017). Social justice debate and college access in Latin America: merit or need? The role of educational institutions and states in broadening access to higher education in the region. Analytic Archive in Educational Policy, 25(73), 1-31.
Google Scholar CrossrefVillalobos, C., Quaresma, M.L. & Franetovic, G. (2020). Mapeando a la élite en el espacio universitario. Un análisis cuantitativo-multidimensional del caso chileno. Revista Española de Sociología, 29(3), 523-541.
Google Scholar CrossrefWakeling, P. & Savage, M. (2015). Elite universities, elite schooling and reproduction in Britain. In A. Van Zanten, S. Ball & B. Darchy-Koechlin (eds), Elites, privilege and excellence. The national and global redefinition of educational advantage (pp.169-184). Routledge.
Google Scholar CrossrefWhite, M. (2017). Towards a political theory of the university: public reason, democracy and higher education. Routledge.
Google Scholar CrossrefYoung, M. (1958). The rise of meritocracy. Taylor & Francis.
Google Scholar CrossrefZimmerman, S. (2019). Elite colleges and upward mobility to top jobs and top incomes. American Economic Review, 109(1), 1-47.
Google Scholar CrossrefPublished
Almetric
Dimensions
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 International Journal of Sociology of Education
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles are published under Creative Commons copyright (CC BY). Authors hold the copyright and retain publishing rights without restrictions, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles as the original source is cited.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Cristóbal Villalobos, Social conflicts in the educational field: A conceptual model for understand this problematic in contemporary societies. , International Journal of Sociology of Education: Vol. 4 No. 1 (2015): February