Blowing hot and cold about diversity: white middle-class gentrifiers and ethnically mixed schooling in Belgium

Abstract

It has been argued that white middle classes act in the best interest of their offspring, even when these actions clash with their values. In urban contexts, parents often do this by avoiding ethnically diverse educational settings. Drawing on 35 interviews, this article aims to gain a deeper understanding of the school-choice process of white gentrifiers going against a dominant, white middle-class norm by selecting an ethnically mixed school in the context of Ghent (Belgium). Making use of critical race theory, it is suggested that, although these white gentrifiers have in their actions gone against the grain, they have done less so in their motives, as these are permeated by instrumental reasons.

Keywords:

• Critical race theory
• gentrification
• middle-class
• school choice
• whiteness

Notes

1. Pseudonyms are used for all schools and respondents to protect the privacy of the respondents. Respondents were ensured confidentiality by not disclosing any information provided by respondents or by doing this in such a way as not to reveal the identity of the respondents.

2. Behind the (seemingly innocent) view of the selfless white middle-class parent whose choice for a ethnically diverse school should be applauded as a couragous act, two problematic assumptions are tucked away. First, minoritised pupils not only are perceived as fundamentally different but also as subjects who are entering school environments with cultural deficiencies – an assumption which, as has been demonstrated by Yosso (2005), often springs from a misinterpretion of Bourdieu’s theorethical insights on societal reproduction. Second, it is believed that these assumed hierarchical differences operate as communicating vessels. More specifically, there is an idea that (radical) integration could benefit minoritised pupils while at the same time hurt white middle-class children. These assumptions are, indeed, echoed by Stillman (2012) who is referring to the ‘detrimental effects’ (xviii) of schools characterised by a high percentage of minoritised pupils on white middle-class children, while at the same time also stressing integration of white middle-class children as ‘an important way to help improve the education environment of struggling inner-city schools’ (xiv). By giving prominence to the assumptions that underly the view of the selfless and self-abnegating white middle-class subject, it not only becomes intelligible why these subjects are lauded as ‘heroes,’ but also why such terms, statements, and discourses are problematic.

3. People are registered as being of foreign origin on the basis of an identification key. First, the nationality of the father is studied. When the father does not have the Belgian citizenship at birth, the individual is registered as being of foreign origin. When the opposite is the case, the nationality of the mother is studied. When she does not have the Belgian citizenship at birth, the individual is once again registered as being of foreign origin. When the opposite is the case, the nationality of the individual is examined. Only when the individual does hold the Belgian citizenship is the individual registered as being of non-foreign origin.

4. This process is highly similar to the one described by Chan and Eyster (2009), in which diverse white socioeconomic status groups support affirmative action policies in higher educational settings to an extent that best serves their interests.