Ji-won, Lee, Dismantling Distinction: Elite Realignments and Educational Equalization in South Korea, 1945–1974

요약문

Sociological scholarship on educational inequality has not adequately theorized the political origins of egalitarian reform. To advance discussions beyond purely cultural or economic explanations, this dissertation investigates the history of demand-side secondary school access reform in South Korea between 1945 and 1974, a period that established the foundation for the nation's rapid and equitable expansion of mass education.

  Drawing on extensive archival research, the study employs a relational power perspective to analyze the complex interactions among parents, school principals, and government officials. The dissertation’s central argument is that the successful implementation of egalitarian reforms hinges on fracturing the “status-defending coalition”—an alliance of elite schools, elite parents, and state actors dedicated to perpetuating their advantaged status. Reforms succeed when this coalition becomes untenable, compelling some of its members to compete with their former allies to protect their interests.

  Crucially, the analysis demonstrates that this fracturing does not necessarily result from direct challenges by the reform’s beneficiaries (less-privileged families). Instead, it often stems from the indirect influence of non-elites or, more decisively, from conflicts with other elite actors, such as fiscal bureaucrats, whose actions were driven by objectives unrelated to educational equalization.

  By elucidating this political mechanism, this study extends scholarship on educational politics from a focus on educational expansion to the dynamics of educational equalization. It reveals that fracturing elite alliances can be a more decisive catalyst for social change than the formation of coalitions among non-elites, offering a generalizable framework for understanding the politics of reform in other hierarchical institutions.