Rules of Opportunity: Governance, Contention, and Inequality in China鈥檚 School 91丝瓜视频
Talk - "Rules of Opportunity: Governance, Contention, and Inequality in China鈥檚 School 91丝瓜视频"
Professor Fangsheng Zhu, Duke Kunshan University聽
Thursday March 26th, 15:15 to 16:45 EST,聽Learning Commons (RM 120), Education Building 3700 Rue McTavish, Montr茅al, QC H3A 1X1
Co-sponsored by the Faculty of Education and the Centre for Global Chinese Studies
Abstract:
Why is education inequality so hard to reduce, even for a strong state like China? This talk argues that top-down, equity-oriented reforms can generate contentious and unintended policy consequences. First, the talk traces how policy paradigms and state capacity evolved in K-12 education from the 1980s onward, culminating in a nationwide reform in the 2010s pursued in the name of equity. Second, it explains the political consequences of this reform, particularly how state capacity-building unexpectedly triggered a surge of parental contention. Third, it documents how the post-reform rules engendered new family strategies for school access, redefining family advantages in accessing education opportunities. In summary, the reform inadvertently spurred contention and created new mechanisms of inequality. Drawing on a mixed-method analysis of fieldwork, event data, and policy documents, this talk advances a rule-centered approach to analyzing education inequality and its governance.
Fangsheng Zhu is an assistant professor of sociology at Duke Kunshan University. He uses mixed methods to study the social, political, and technological contexts of education. His current research investigates questions such as: Why are education inequality and intensity so difficult to reduce, even under a strong state? How do new forms of education emerge amid shifts in culture and technology? He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University.
