Educational Inequality in an Affluent Setting: An Exploration of Resources and Opportunity.

Abstract

This dissertation critically engages contemporary theories of educational inequality which argue resource provision is the lynchpin to educational equality. The bulk of previous research on educational inequality has concentrated on comparing students between schools who attended differently resourced and grossly segregated schools which has obscured the role of resources. Thus in school districts where Black and White, rich and poor attend the same schools, the sources of inequality appear unclear. My dissertation explores the role of resources in an affluent setting by exploring the in and out-of-school lives of Black and White families who attend the same schools. Using a resource uptake perspective, I argue that provision of resources, in and of itself, is an insufficient policy tool for the production of equality. Instead, I argue in areas where resources are present inequality is bred in the unequal uptake of school related resources along racial and social class lines. My analysis offers a different articulation of the operations of race and social class in the production of inequality in the post-Civil Rights era. The data for this dissertation are drawn from in-depth interviews, ethnographic observation, archives, and systematic classroom observations of 31 families, teachers, and administrators.