Society in the Classroom: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

In introducing the special issue, Society in the Classroom: Multilevel Perspectives on Socioeconomic Inequalities in Education, we begin by challenging the assumption that educational institutions are neutral sites merely reflecting socioeconomic inequalities that originate beyond them. Instead, we consider how socioeconomic disparities and biases pervade educational settings and may be perpetuated by the very function of privileging particular standards and practices, a function that is central to institutions serving the dominant societal classes. Compiled 20 years after the last time the Journal of Social Issues focused on the psychology of social class in the context of education, this issue takes stock of research on this topic with a focus on approaches that go beyond the individual level of analysis. Although research reported in the issue is predominantly conducted with majority ethnic samples in the United States and Western Europe, it engages with intersectional concerns by attending to power and interlocking processes of oppression.