By concentrating on the topic of school enrolment policy for rural-to-urban migrant children in China, this book analyses the unequal power relations and structural inequalities that can appear in the context of education.
The author complements current knowledge by applying theoretical resources of policy sociology, in particular the thinking of Pierre Bourdieu, into analysis of educational policymaking in the Chinese context. He takes a policy trajectory approach to trace the (unequal) power relations and structural inequalities invested and realised in the school enrolment policy. Rooted in rich qualitative data from five metropolises, he examines both external influences of politics, economy and public policy on educational policy agenda setting and discursive practices within the educational policy cycle, inherent in the post-2013 restrictive school enrolment policy. Structural constraints and agency in the local context are also explored, indicating that the intersectional effects of political, economic, and civic logic can result in differentiated modes of policy enactment.
The study will be of interest to scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners in helping address policymaking and social justice in education for migrants and other marginalised groups.
Author(s): Hui Yu
Series: China Perspectives
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 177
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgement
Foreword
Chapter 1: Migrant children’s school enrolment in urban China
Rural-to-urban migration since the 1980s
Migrants’ social positionality in urban China
Social stratification in contemporary Chinese society
Migrants’ social positionality and living conditions
Migrant children’s educational expectations
Urban state school enrolment process
Institutional barriers in urban schooling
Analysing and interpreting the practice
Notes
References
Chapter 2: Fluctuating development of school enrolment policy
Hard to access state schools (1996–2001)
Relaxation of enrolment criteria (2001–2013)
Returning to restrictive criteria (2013–)
Local policy development
Beijing
Shanghai
Pearl River Delta region (Guangzhou as case)
District-level diversities in policymaking
Notes
References
Chapter 3: Tracing educational policy trajectory with policy sociological and Bourdieusian resources
Educational policymaking for migrant children: gaps in the existing literature
Critical social research and policy sociology
Bourdieu's field theory as the main resource
Analysing a field: a three-level approach
Logic of practice
Relationships and interactions of fields
Educational policy, field, and cross-field effects
Theorising educational policy as a social field
Cross-field effects
Multi-level/directional cross-field analysis
Discourse, power and policy cycle
Foucault, discourse, and power
Policy, discourse, and text
Policy cycle
Social regularity
Note
References
Chapter 4: Intersection of multiple fields and social spaces framing policymaking
Interrelated fields in the national social space
Multiple fields across social spaces
Vertical/parallel segmentation (tiaokuai fenge) and spaces for local discretion
Weiwen (stability maintenance) as dominant political logic
TMC policy as a ‘symbolic’ policy
Notes
References
Chapter 5: Cross-field effects: External influences on policy agenda
Theorising external influences on educational policymaking
Event effect: influences from public policy
The educational policy field (before 2013)
The public policy field (2013): changing logic of practice
The educational policy field (after 2013)
Systemic effect: the intersection of political and economic logics
The changed political logic: the rise of economic logic in the field of power
The field of public policy (and its sub-fields) under the systemic effect
A ‘nightmare’ for migrant families and the ways out
Notes
References
Chapter 6: Discursive practices: Inside the ‘black box’ of the policy cycle
Theorising internal dynamics in educational policy trajectory
Two social regularities of education and migration
Problematising ‘migrant children in state school’
Redefining compulsory education as social welfare
Producing a ‘well-regulated’ criteria system
Notes
References
Chapter 7: Intersectional logics: Local diversities in policy enactment
Intersection of political, economic and civic logics in the bureaucratic field
Beijing: navigating through weiwen and gatekeeping
Shanghai: marketisation supplement state apparatus
Pearl River Delta cites: utilising civil society ( shimin shehui) and the market mechanism
Individuals, agency, and ‘bottom-up effects’ in policy enactment
School stratification, class distinction, and elite schools’ resistance
Capital accumulation and ‘grassroots’ schools’ embrace
Notes
References
Chapter 8: Nature of policymaking and concerns for social justice
Policymaking across multiple fields and social spaces
Interrelated fields and dominant logics in policymaking
External influences on the educational policy agenda
Internal dynamics in the educational policy cycle
Local diversities in policy enactment
Dynamic nature of educational policymaking
External effects in policymaking
Multi-directional interactions in policymaking
People and interpretation in policymaking
Non-linear nature of policy trajectory
Power and control underneath policy trajectory
References
Chapter 9: Being reflexive: Policy sociology, Bourdieu, and the ‘toolbox’ approach
Extending the ‘toolbox’ of policy sociology
Theoretical (in)consistency in the ‘toolbox’
Possibilities for the sociology of policy trajectory
Extending the analytical scope
Being vigilant to agency
Digging into Bourdieu’s toolkit
Note
References
Appendix: Lists of interviewees
Index
