Unequal Neighbourhoods, Unequal Schools: Organisational Habitus in Deprived and Privileged Local Contexts

285 Pages·2020·5.194 MB·English

by  Julia Nast

Julia Nast
Unequal
Neighbourhoods,
Unequal Schools
Organisational Habitus in Deprived and
Privileged Local Contexts
Unequal Neighbourhoods,
Unequal Schools
Julia Nast
Unequal
Neighbourhoods,
Unequal Schools
Organisational Habitus in Deprived
and Privileged Local Contexts
Julia Nast
Berlin, Germany
Dissertation an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswis-
senschaftliche Fakultät, 2017
ISBN 978-3-658-27590-7 ISBN 978-3-658-27591-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-27591-4
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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to a lot of people, who have made this project possible and provided
me with inspiring insights and invaluable support.
First, I want to thank my supervisor Talja Blokland (Humboldt University) for
encouraging me to start this project, for fruitful discussions and for her guidance
throughout this process. I am also indebted to my second supervisor Tim Butler
(King’s College London) for support, helpful advice, and for generously com-
menting on the final draft.
I have benefited from comments, feedback and conversations with numerous peo-
ple during the last years. I especially want to thank Phil Kasinitz, John Mollen-
kopf, Christine Hentschel, Nihad El-Kayed, Anna Erika Hägglund, Carlotta
Giustozzi, Sol Gamsu, Tarik Abou-Chadi, Lukas Zidella, and my fellow graduate
students at Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences, at City University of New
York, at King’s College London as well as everybody involved in the NYLON
group and in the urban sociology PhD colloquium at Humboldt University.
I thank the Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences for financial aid and con-
stant support as well as the International Office at Humboldt and King’s. I am
grateful to Deutsche Kinder- und Jugendstiftung for granting additional free time
during the final period of writing-up.
Probably most of all, I am indebted to the people, who made my fieldwork possi-
ble, who took me along, and who were so generous with their time during their
busy work schedules. It was an incredible experience to get to know your work
and I am deeply grateful for the honesty, the insights and wisdom that all of you
shared.
Last but not least, I want to thank my family and friends. I am deeply grateful for
your reassurance, patience, and inspiration.
Table of Contents
1 Unequal Neighbourhoods, Unequal Schools? Organisational
Neighbourhood Inequality and the Question of Organisational
Habitus and Organisational Practices .................................................... 13
1.1 Shifting the Focus: Organisational Neighbourhood Inequality .................. 14
1.2 Bringing Organisations and Neighbourhood Together: Localised
Organisational Habitus and Organisational Practices ............................... 17
1.3 Research Questions and Methodology ...................................................... 19
1.4 Structure of the Book ................................................................................ 21

2 Neighbourhoods, Schools and Inequality: Shifting the Focus .............. 25
2.1 Urban Inequality as Neighbourhood Effects .............................................. 26
The Limited Focus on Organisational Mechanisms ................................... 32

From Neighbourhood Effects to Organisational
Neighbourhood Inequality ......................................................................... 44
2.2 Organisations from an Urban Research Perspective ................................... 46
Quantity of Organisations in Poor Neighbourhoods .................................. 48

Quality of Organisations in Poor Neighbourhoods .................................... 50
2.3 Neighbourhoods, Schools, and Inequality ................................................. 52
Schools in Urban Research: Outside the School Gates .............................. 52

Research into School Composition: Social Mix and Inequality ................. 55

School Effects and Neighbourhood Effects ............................................... 62
2.4 Summing Up: Organisational Neighbourhood Inequality ......................... 67
VIII Table of Contents
3 A Theoretical Perspective: Localised Fields, Organisational
Habitus and Organisational Practices .................................................... 69
3.1 Organisations as Open Systems: New Institutionalism
and Two Problems ...................................................................................... 70
Agency in Organisational Structures.......................................................... 73

The Irrelevance of Local Neighbourhoods? ............................................... 75

Bringing Agency and Neighbourhood Context Back In ............................ 78
3.2 Organisations-as-Fields, Organisational Habitus and Organisational
Practices ...................................................................................................... 78
Organisational Habitus and Organisational Practices ................................ 79

Organisations-as-Fields: A Localised Approach to New-
Institutional Organisations ......................................................................... 85
3.3 Localised Organisational Habitus and Practices: Understanding
Organisational Neighbourhood Inequality ................................................. 89

4 Setting the Scene: Neighbourhoods, Data and Methodology ............... 91
4.1 The Sites: Entering the Field...................................................................... 91
Cross-Square .............................................................................................. 91

Roseville .................................................................................................... 93
4.2 Case Selection: Why these Neighbourhoods and Schools? ....................... 94
Neighbourhoods: Choosing Cross-Square and Roseville........................... 96

Schools: Comparing Roseville Primary School and
Cross-Square Primary School .................................................................... 97
4.3 Methods ...................................................................................................... 99
Organisational Ethnography and Shadowing ............................................. 99
Table of Contents IX

Interview Approach.................................................................................. 103
4.4 Coding and Analysis of Data ................................................................... 106

5 How Neighbourhoods Shape Schools-as-Fields: Social,
Symbolic, and Administrative Differences ........................................... 109
5.1 Neighbourhoods as Social Units: Parents, Power Positions,
and Institutional Pressures ........................................................................ 111
Powerful Parents, Powerful Teachers?..................................................... 112

Social Inequality, Institutional Pressures and the Question of the
Meritocratic Myth .................................................................................... 125
5.2 A Neighbourhood’s Symbolic Meaning as Institutional Pressure ........... 133
Cross-Square: A Neighbourhood’s Meaning as Symbolic Violence ....... 135

Roseville: A Neighbourhood’s Meaning as Symbolic Valorisation ........ 139
5.3 Neighbourhoods as Administrative Units: Projects, Cooperation,
and Institutional Embeddedness .............................................................. 143
Cross-Square: Additional Workload, Institutional Pressures,
and Types of Cooperation ........................................................................ 144

Roseville: Different Workload, Different Institutional Pressures,
and the Role of Parents ............................................................................ 151
5.4 Schools as Localised Fields and Neighbourhood Inequality ................... 160

6 How Educational Professionals Adapt: Localised Organisational
Habitus and Organisational Practices .................................................. 163
6.1 Emotional Practices: Coming to Terms with Inequality .......................... 164
If I’ve Learned One Thing or: “You Can’t Save All the Children
in this Neighbourhood” ............................................................................ 165
X Table of Contents
Supporting Them All or Why it is All Right to Stay in Paradise ............. 174
6.2 What to Do and What Not to Do: Between Autonomy and Control ......... 182
Parents’ Role in Organisational Habitus of Teachers: The Little
Voice Inside Your Head ........................................................................... 182

Parents’ Role in Organisational Habitus of Teachers:
Who Knows Best? .................................................................................... 188

Autonomy and Space to Manoeuvre: Educational Practices
and Parental Control................................................................................. 194
6.3 Naming Problems and Finding Solutions ................................................ 209
Localised Organisational Habitus: Defining Social or
Individual Problems ................................................................................. 209

Localised Organisational Practices: Finding Solutions ............................ 220
6.4 Localised Organisational Habitus and Organisational Practices:
Analysing Neighbourhood Inequality ....................................................... 228

7 Organisational Neighbourhood Inequality and What to Do
About It ................................................................................................... 233
7.1 A New Focus: Organisations as Places of Urban Inequality ................... 233
7.2 From Neighbourhood Effects to Neighbourhood Inequality ................... 234
7.3 A Theoretical Perspective: Localised Fields, Organisational Habitus,
and Organisational Practices .................................................................... 235
7.4 How Do Neighbourhoods Impact Organisational Practices? ................... 236
The Localisation of Organisations-as-Fields ............................................ 237

The Localisation of Organisational Habitus and Practices ....................... 239
7.5 What is Next? ........................................................................................... 243
Table of Contents XI

Some Limitations - How to Further Develop the Arguments of this
Research ................................................................................................... 244

A Research Agenda for Organisational Neighbourhood Inequality ......... 245

Some Practical Consequences: Educational Policy and Practices ............ 246

Appendix: Interview Guides .......................................................................... 249

References ....................................................................................................... 257