Aspiring to higher education: micro-practices, horizons and social class reproduction in Chile

Abstract

This paper examines how pupils’ aspirations towards higher education (HE) are shaped and reinforced in Chile. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework and building on relevant scholarship focussed on HE decision-making and choices, it introduces two dual-headed conceptual tools which allow a grasp of relevant differences between social classes: firstly, channelling micro-practices and pushing micro-practices; and secondly, horizons of reference and horizons of potentialities. Through analysing forty-six semi-structured qualitative interviews with pupils from thirteen different secondary schools, this study shows that HE aspirations in the dominant class are experienced as the natural pathway towards university; in the intermediate class, the possibility of HE is taken as a demand of society; while for those in dominated positions, aspirations are rather influenced by uncertainties regarding the future.