Tvö gagnasöfn voru notuð til að ná þessu markmiði. Til að rannsaka skóla- og hverfaval voru notuð 22 viðtöl við foreldra með fjölbreyttan stéttabakgrunn, þar af einn föður og 21 móður. Einnig voru notuð tölfræðigögn frá Hagstofu Íslands um bakgrunn barnafjölskyldna í öllum skólahverfum höfuðborgarsvæðisins og bakgrunn fjölskyldna barna í einkaskólum. Saman gera þessi þrjú gagnasöfn mér kleift að nálgast viðfangsefnið á blæbrigðaríkan og fjölbreyttan máta. Gögnin voru greind með fræðikenningar Bourdieus til hliðsjónar. Einkum notaði ég kenningar Bourdieus um endursköpun stétttengdra valdatengsla með beitingu táknræns auðmagns í félagslegu rými skóla og hverfa. Til viðbótar beitti ég femínísku og póststrúktúralísku sjónarhorni á viðfangsefnið. Þannig eru kynjuð og stétttengd valdatengsl skoðuð út frá mótandi áhrifum vals, valþröngar, tilfinninga, venja, orða og orðræðu.

Tegund styrks: Doktorsnemastyrkur

English: 

Middle class formation through parental choices and practices within the compulsory education field in Iceland.

This project aims to explore how power relations are reproduced through parental choices and practices in Iceland, with a focus on classed and gendered dimensions. It asks how parental practices contribute to class reproduction in Iceland, with a focus on school and neighbourhood choices. Two different datasets are used to achieve this aim. In my exploration of school and neighbourhood choices, I use 22 interviews with parents of various social class background, thereof one father and 21 mothers. Secondly, I use descriptive data on the socio-economic Page7 of 8 IRF final report background of families within the Reykjavík metropolitan area and families of children in private schools. Together these different datasets make possible a nuanced and diverse analysis of the topic in question. I analyse the data through the theoretical lens of Bourdieu. In particular, I use Bourdieu’s theories of the reproduction of class to explore if and how the middle class uses symbolic capital to reproduce class distinction, thereby enhancing privilege for their children through school and neighbourhood choices. In addition, I make use of feminist and post-structuralist understanding of power relations. In this way I analyse the gendered and classed factors as they are shaped by choices, feelings, dilemmas, actions, words and discourses.