Beyond public vs. private
The ideational transformation of education in Chile’s market society
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24020280 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mariano Rosenzvaig-Hernández (0000-0002-8189-4346, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-21 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Sociology of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0142-5692 • E-ISSN: 1465-3346 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01425692.2026.2707922 |
| OpenAlex | W7172318435 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 24 |
This study examines how four decades of market-oriented reforms in Chile have transformed the ideational foundations of educational discourse, creating conceptual barriers to reform beyond institutional arrangements. Drawing on critical discourse analysis of interviews with 39 elite educational stakeholders, the research identifies four fault lines where market logic has altered core educational concepts: contradictions between meritocratic ideals and structural inequalities, the reconceptualization of public education as residual state service, the transformation of private provision from mission-oriented service to profit-driven enterprise, and the creation of educational subjectivities that equate agency with consumer choice. These transformations have narrowed the discursive terrain for imagining alternatives, demonstrating how neoliberal hegemony operates through conceptual colonization rather than structural coercion alone. The study proposes reconceptualizing education as a societal good that transcends public-private binaries, emphasizing education’s constitutive role in democratic life, and revealing how market reforms reshape the conceptual foundations through which educational possibilities are imagined.
Agency (philosophy) · Democracy · Elite · Hegemony · Higher education · Ivory tower · Meritocracy · Neoliberalism (international relations) · Public service · State (computer science) · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · School Choice and Performance
Education plc
Global Education Inc.
The New Political Economy of Urban Education
Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis
Analysing Discourse
Why Things Matter to People
Unmaking the market
Socioeconomic school segregation in a market-oriented educational system. The case of Chile
Gramsci's Relevance for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
The Quadruple Movement
A Triple Movement
A Realist Theory of Hegemony
The right to pay. Ideology and ideological tensions in making markets in education. The case of Chile
Publics, Politics and Power
The neoliberal cascade and education
Undoing the Demos
Privatization Reform and Inequality of Educational Opportunity
Neoliberal Agency
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |