Education, Neoliberalism and the Reproduction of Social Relations

Maja Čadež and Polona Kelava Summary:

Summary:  In the following article, our focus was on the role of education in maintaining social relations. By providing different data, we aimed to demonstrate in what way the level of education, access to education (for adults) and one’s status and position in society are correlated. Our aim was to find out whether the declared equitable access to education is genuinely provided to all. In trying to establish if this was the case, we sought explanations of how neoliberalism influences the reproduction of differences in society, including through citizens’ level of attained education. Our explanations have been based on the work of Rawls, Chomsky, Beck, Kodelja, Kump et al. It has been observed that there are considerable differences in people’s social and economic status, depending on their attained levels of education, and that these differences also impact people’s integration in education.