Nucleus of studies on elites and socio-educational inequalities (NEEDS)

Research linking education and elites in our country has achieved, in the last decade, a certain degree of consensus in affirming some regularities regarding the unique relationship between the two. In some way, the links with the private sector, the creation of exclusive educational circuits and the dynamics of social closure promoted, seem to be a characteristic of the way in which the privileged sectors establish relationships with the school system. Likewise, it is possible to affirm that these dynamics have changed in the historical evolution and in the exchange between generations.

Despite these consensuses, the field that addresses the formation of elites and their relationship with the processes of socio-educational inequality presents a recent development in our environment and still suffers from multiple thematic vacancies. The formation of a nucleus of studies on elites and socio-educational inequalities aims to contribute to this field of research by inquiring about the articulation between training experiences and the social distribution of privileged positions.

The nucleus brings together research that addresses the analysis of the trajectories of formation, selection and consecration of elites from a relational perspective of inequality. In other words, our theoretical-methodological approach seeks to understand the processes of construction of socio-educational inequality, taking as an empirical reference the analysis of the experience of those who occupy positions of privilege in our society, understanding them in a framework of hegemony relations.

Considering education as a formative experience that includes schooling but transcends it, the nucleus integrates research that investigates the social uses of education and its articulation with inequality in spaces that are not reduced to the world of school. Likewise, the nucleus seeks to question itself about the theoretical-methodological challenges linked to the study of elites and their implications for the study of society as a whole.

Through our work we hope to promote a reflection that allows a better understanding of the processes involved in the relationship between education and inequality in our societies.