School Choice as Community Disempowerment: Racial Rhetoric about Voucher Policy in Urban America

4Citations
Citations of this article
21Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Depictions of school choice offering greater individual and local autonomy are widespread, yet they sit uneasily with portrayals of such policies within African-American political discourse. This article analyses the ways in which opposition to publicly funded private school vouchers has been used as a cue to signal solidaristic ties to the African-American electorate. School choice is highly racialized. Black politicians have been known to campaign against school choice policies by presenting them as tools of White outsiders to break up and divide the Black community. Although opinion polls have indicated that a majority of African-American voters support education vouchers, in a campaign context school choice policies can be framed through the prisms of racial authenticity and community control. Using data drawn from interviews with political operatives and archival research in Newark, New Jersey, this article demonstrates that school choice can paradoxically be rendered as a policy of community disempowerment.

Author supplied keywords

References Powered by Scopus

Case study research: Principles and practices

2666Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

'How many cases do I need?': On science and the logic of case selection in field-based research

1386Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race, and the right to the city

742Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

“I Can’t Vote if I Don’t Leave My Apartment”: The Problem of Neighborhood Violence and its Impact on the Political Behavior of Black American Women Living Below the Poverty Line

4Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Constructions of choice in U.S. education policy discourse, 1994–2020: a corpus-assisted analysis

0Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Bureaucratic Beliefs and Representation: Linking Social Identities, Attitudes, and Client Outcomes

0Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Johnson, R. (2022). School Choice as Community Disempowerment: Racial Rhetoric about Voucher Policy in Urban America. Urban Affairs Review, 58(2), 563–596. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087421992122

Readers over time

‘21‘22‘23‘24‘2502468

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

Professor / Associate Prof. 3

50%

Researcher 2

33%

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 1

17%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Social Sciences 3

43%

Business, Management and Accounting 2

29%

Engineering 1

14%

Arts and Humanities 1

14%

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free
0