Education as a field of power in contemporary democracies: political legitimization and inequality. A socio-political analysis of right-wing populism in the United States

Abstract

Education has long been presented in the United States as a space where the American Dream and democracy are built. Yet under Trumpism, these promises coexist with policies that dismantle the very mechanisms designed to make it accessible. Book bans, curriculum restrictions, the erosion of the Department of Education, private school voucher programmes, and the redefinition of institutional neutrality are not presented as attacks on education but as its defence: a protection of parental rights and a return to "true" American values. Behind this language of protection, however, inequality deepens rather than diminishes. To make sense of this contradiction, this thesis draws on classical socio-political concepts, combining sociological and political theory. Bourdieu's notions of capital, habitus and symbolic violence show education as a field where cultural and social advantages already possessed by dominant groups are legitimised as merit, while structural barriers in college admissions and student debt reproduce existing hierarchies. Laclau's theory of populism explains how terms like "freedom" or "school choice" function as empty signifiers, uniting heterogeneous grievances against a constructed enemy, the "woke elite", while absorbing democratic demands into an agenda that serves opposing interests. Foucault's framework reveals how power operates not through coercion but through norms and discourse that silence dissent while appearing self-evident. Ultimately, this thesis shows that education functions as a field of power rather than a neutral path to mobility, and that resistance persists nonetheless, in teachers, librarians and unions who defend its democratic function.