Race and Racelessness in CMO Marketing

Exploring Charter Management Organizations’ Racial Construction and its Implications

Bibliographic Data

ID11260007
AuthorsLaura E Hernández (0000-0002-0372-937X, University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume91
Issue1
Pages47-63
Publication date2016-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePeabody Journal of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0161-956X • E-ISSN: 1532-7930
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0161956x.2016.1119566
OpenAlexW2296570255
LanguageEN
Citations received27
References cited38

As schools face growing competitive pressures, researchers have investigated the increasing reliance on marketing and its implications for various racial and socioeconomic groups. Although research has expanded our knowledge of marketing's gatekeeping qualities, it has less often considered the manner in which school marketing efforts contribute to broader, social understandings of race and the characterization of racial groups. Because marketing has historically played a pivotal role in the construction of race and racial identity in American society, this exploratory study considers if and how racial identities are configured in the marketing materials of two prominent charter management organizations (CMOs). Employing critical discourse analysis, this study suggests that the focal CMOs employ a racial discourse characterized by indirect racial references that are supplemented with negative depictions of the communities and racial groups they serve. I argue that the focal CMOs’ racial discourse contributes to the reification of colorblindness, the dominant racial frame that characterizes the manner in which many understand race and race relations. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the CMOs’ espousal of color blindness in their marketing materials, noting how the discursive obfuscation of race affects the manner in which educational leaders imagine educational solutions and neglects the continued and unique impact that race has in everyday lives

Gatekeeping · Political science · Public relations · Race (biology · Racial formation theory · Sociology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Studies · School Choice and Performance · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

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