Recent trends in the democratization of education and the school market in Quebec: from inclusion to stratification
The aim of this study is to show that the production and reproduction of social inequalities in education in Quebec is the result of the interplay between the effects of the power of social relations and the organization of educational public policies. An analysis of longitudinal data confirms this hypothesis, revealing that this interplay operates through the stratification of the school market. Downstream, the structure of the school market is a factor in the production of social inequalities in post-secondary education. Upstream, the school market itself is influenced by students’ social characteristics : class, ethnicity and gender. In conclusion, the influence of social characteristics on the production and reproduction of social inequalities in higher education in Quebec operates, in part, through the stratification of the school market and inter and intra-institutional competition.