This dissertation examines the changing roles of schools in the context of post-97 education reform in Hong Kong, which joined the global trend of neoliberal restructuring of the public sector. By identifying polarized forces that had been introduced into the field of schooling through policy-constructed competition, this dissertation puts forward the argument that education reform in Hong Kong has transformed the system into what is to be conceptualized as exploitative elitism, of which educational resources have been reallocated from the public to the private sector, and from the needy to the already privileged.

School is the active agent shaping such exploitative elitism in the course of the neoliberal restructuring. Adopting the methodology of case studies, this study focus...[ Read more ]

This dissertation examines the changing roles of schools in the context of post-97 education reform in Hong Kong, which joined the global trend of neoliberal restructuring of the public sector. By identifying polarized forces that had been introduced into the field of schooling through policy-constructed competition, this dissertation puts forward the argument that education reform in Hong Kong has transformed the system into what is to be conceptualized as exploitative elitism, of which educational resources have been reallocated from the public to the private sector, and from the needy to the already privileged.

School is the active agent shaping such exploitative elitism in the course of the neoliberal restructuring. Adopting the methodology of case studies, this study focuses on analyzing the strategies generated by schools as they responded to the changing field. Power-status, a concept that denotes a self-reproducing position in the field, has been underscored as the explanatory factor for the differentiated strategies generated by schools. The finding of the study shows that schools with higher power-status exhibit the capacity to become the agent for increased segregation, whereas schools with lower power-status explore a space for survival by indicating a philanthropic turn, which may in turn improve the welfare of the disadvantaged students. However, as the segregation brought about by the higher power-status schools is difficult to be countered by the philanthropic role acted out by the lower power-status schools, exploitative elitism is marked with increased social inequality.