| Title: |
'By Reason or by Force': Compensatory Higher Education Strategies and Elite Reproduction in Chile |
| Language: |
English |
| Authors: |
Pablo Lillo Cea (ORCID 0000-0002-4868-3301); Emil Bertilsson (ORCID 0000-0003-1316-2845) |
| Source: |
British Journal of Sociology of Education. 2026 47(1):99-120. |
| Availability: |
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals |
| Peer Reviewed: |
Y |
| Page Count: |
22 |
| Publication Date: |
2026 |
| Document Type: |
Journal Articles; Reports - Research |
| Education Level: |
Higher Education; Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: |
Foreign Countries; Selective Admission; Colleges; Social Class; Reputation; Academic Achievement; Economic Factors; College Admission; Socioeconomic Status; Grade Point Average; Low Achievement |
| Geographic Terms: |
Chile |
| DOI: |
10.1080/01425692.2025.2584174 |
| ISSN: |
0142-5692; 1465-3346 |
| Abstract: |
This study examines how elite Chilean students with comparatively weak academic resources navigates a highly stratified higher education system. Using administrative registry data on university applications, we analyse how students from elite backgrounds mobilise non-academic resources to sustain elite trajectories. Through correspondence analysis, we identify a set of institutions and programmes--exclusive private universities and high-cost baccalaureates--that serve as 'sanctuary schools' and 'roundabout routes': pathways that lower academic thresholds while maintaining symbolic legitimacy and social exclusivity. These findings revive and adapt Bourdieusian concepts of compensatory strategies to a national, massified higher education context. In doing so, we demonstrate how institutional differentiation and geographical centralisation facilitate elite reproduction through non-meritocratic means. The dual logic captured in Chile's national motto--Por la razón o la fuerza--illustrates how access to legitimate educational positions can be secured either through merit ('reason') or through economic and social capital reconversion ('force'). |
| Abstractor: |
As Provided |
| Entry Date: |
2026 |
| Accession Number: |
EJ1500734 |
| Database: |
ERIC |