The dissertation aims to reveal the root causes of institutional inequality in the US higher education system. With the collapse of the “American Dream” as the realistic background, this research raises the question: How is inequality institutionally constructed, maintained, and exacerbated in a seemingly fair and widely expanded higher education system? The study focuses on the student loan system, a key node, as an institutional turning point in the national transition from public funding to private debt. It systematically examines its mechanisms in policy design, ideological discourse, and class reproduction.
In theory, the dissertation defines inequality as a structural reproduction mechanism, emphasizing that the joint action of power, institutions, and ideology forms it. Based on the "3I model" (ideas, institutions, interests), and introducing lobbying and rent-seeking theories, an analytical model for understanding institutional bias and interest solidification is constructed. In terms of methods, the dissertation combines process tracking, case study, discourse analysis, and logistic regression to conduct a multi-level analysis of the federal government's student loan policy from 2010 to 2024.
The study finds that inequality in the US higher education system is mainly reflected in four mechanisms: exclusion of public participation, ideological hegemony, class differentiation, and the institutional lock-in effects. Together, these mechanisms constitute a structural encirclement of public resources by government and capital, which conceals the true face of structural-institutional inequality. Ultimately, it points out that the inequality does not stem from the coincidental governance or policy failure; instead, it is the product of the inherent contradictions of the democratic capitalist system. To break through the institutional dilemma, the study suggests a political resistance normativity based on Marx's concept of “free and fully developed individuals” and the reconstruction of political imagination.
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Abstract
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 What is Inequality? Definitions, Mechanisms, and Institutions
- 1.1 Defining Inequality: From Distribution to Structural Inequality
- 1.2 Mechanisms of Inequality: Structural Inequality as Institutional Reproduction
- 1.2.1 Classical School of Thoughts in Political Economy
- 1.2.2 Inequality as Functional Distributive Difference
- 1.2.3 A Critical Turn: Bourdieu's Theory of Social Capital and Reproduction
- Economic Capital
- Social Capital
- Cultural Capital
- Symbolic Capital
- 1.3 Inequality and Institutional Intervention
- 1.4 A Brief Summary
- Chapter 2 Structural-Institutional Inequalities within the US Higher Education System
- 2.1 Inequalities among the US Universities
- 2.1.1 Elite and Private Universities: Institutional Forming and Reinforcement
- 2.1.2 Public Universities: The Loss of Public Mission
- 2.1.3 Community Colleges: Structural Deprivation
- 2.2 Inequality across Social Class
- 2.3 Summary
- 2.1 Inequalities among the US Universities
- Chapter 3 Analytical Models
- 3.1 The concepts of the '3 I's: Interests, Ideas, and Institutions
- 3.1.1 Interests
- 3.1.2 Ideas
- 3.1.3 Institutions: Path Dependency
- Veto Players or Veto Points
- Path Dependency
- Institutional Logics
- 3.2 Lobbying Models
- 3.2.1 Lobby as an Exchange
- 3.2.2 Lobby as Persuasion
- 3.2.3 Lobby as a Legislative Subsidy
- 3.2.4 Counteractive Lobbying
- 3.2.5 Integrating the Models
- 3.3 Rent-Seeking Model
- 3.3.1 Social cost of rent-seeking results in both economic and government inefficiency
- 3.3.2 Governmental Costs of Rent-Seeking: Double Loss of Welfare
- 3.4 Synthesizing the Models: Structural-Institutional Inequality Framework
- 3.1 The concepts of the '3 I's: Interests, Ideas, and Institutions
- Chapter 4 Research Design
- 4.1 Research Objectives & Questions
- 4.2 Methodological Strategy: Process Tracing
- 4.3 Case Study
- 4.4 Data Collection
- 4.5 Operationalization
- 4.6 Analytical Integration
- Chapter 5 Findings
- 5.1 Inequality in Policy Implementation Stage
- 5.1.1 Legislative History
- 5.1.2 Strategic Game and Retained Benefits for Concentrated Interest
- 5.1.3 Stealing Behaviors from Concentrated Interest: Lobbying and Rent-seeking
- 5.1.4 The Forgotten Diffused Interests
- 5.2 Inequality in Policy Implementation Stage
- 5.2.1 Policy Implementation Strategy: Ideological Indoctrination
- 5.2.2 Policy Implementation Results on Social Class
- Higher-income Students Have More Loan Options
- Low-Income Students are More Likely to Fall into High Debt Risk
- The Interaction Effect between Family Income and University Type
- Further Explanation
- 5.3 Summary: The Logic of Governance and Path Dependency
- 5.1 Inequality in Policy Implementation Stage
- Chapter 6 Critical Views on the Political Economy of Inequality
- 6.1 The Crisis of US Democratic Capitalism: Harvard vs Trump
- 6.2 The Principal Contradiction in the US Democratic Capitalism
- 6.3 Political Resistance in the Higher Education Arena
- Chapter 7 Conclusion
- 7.1 Summary
- 7.2 Contributions and Limitations
- 7.3 Future Research
- References
Objective & Themes
This dissertation fundamentally aims to uncover the root causes of institutional inequality within the US higher education system. It specifically investigates how inequality is institutionally constructed, maintained, and exacerbated, particularly against the backdrop of the "American Dream's" collapse.
- Analysis of institutional inequality in the US higher education system.
- Exploration of political economy, structural reproduction mechanisms, and policy design.
- Application of the "3I model" (ideas, institutions, interests), lobbying, and rent-seeking theories.
- Investigation of the student loan system as a key node in the national transition from public funding to private debt.
- Examination of policy implementation strategies and their outcomes on social class.
- Critical perspective on US democratic capitalism and political resistance in higher education.
Excerpt from the Book
2.1 Inequalities among the US Universities
From a political-economic perspective, higher education institutions behave out of proactive rational choices. Based on differences in funding sources and service scopes, I categorize higher education institutions into three types: private universities, public universities, and community colleges, in this section.
Firstly, private universities, whose primary funding sources are tuition, private donations, and alumni funds, lead the elitist education. Working with Congress and the industry, they help make the US higher education system rules. The second category is public universities, relying on the state government’s funding and a few tuition fees to survive, and they have a more public mission than private universities. Because part of their funding comes from taxpayers, they are also subject to policy supervision. The third category is community colleges, which are mainly supported by local and state governments and are local public service institutions that provide vocational training and adult education to local community residents, focusing on practicality and accessibility.
The inequalities these three types of higher education institutions engendered represent the first part of the theoretical framework, and the first chapter, I identify different behavioral models. In the first chapter, I analyze the unique distribution of resources but appears in a deeper structural form. Inequality takes shape for private universities when their power and voice in social relations dominate the philosophy of higher education. For public universities, the injustice reflects itself in that they give up competing with top liners for the right and stop voicing the public value of higher education. Instead, they blindly obey the higher education order created by private and elite universities, weaken the legitimacy of public investment, and finally take the active initiative to enter the corporate management model. Finally, community colleges, despite preserving the remnants of
Summary of Chapters
Chapter 1: What is Inequality? Definitions, Mechanisms, and Institutions: This chapter establishes the conceptual framework by defining inequality, distinguishing between distributional and structural forms, and exploring reproduction mechanisms based on political economy and Bourdieu's theory of capital.
Chapter 2: Structural-Institutional Inequalities within the US Higher Education System: This chapter analyzes how structural-institutional inequalities manifest across different types of US higher education institutions (private, public, community colleges) and across social classes.
Chapter 3: Analytical Models: This chapter constructs an analytical framework using the "3I model" (interests, ideas, institutions), lobbying models, and the rent-seeking model to understand how institutional bias and interest solidification are structured.
Chapter 4: Research Design: This chapter outlines the research methodology, including objectives, process tracing strategy, case study approach, data collection methods, and operationalization to investigate student loan policy.
Chapter 5: Findings: This chapter presents the empirical findings regarding inequality in the policy implementation stage, examining legislative history, strategic behaviors, lobbying, rent-seeking, and the impact on different social classes.
Chapter 6: Critical Views on the Political Economy of Inequality: This chapter offers a critical perspective on the US democratic capitalist system, discussing the crisis of democratic capitalism, principal contradictions, and political resistance within higher education.
Chapter 7: Conclusion: This chapter summarizes the dissertation's key arguments, discusses its contributions and limitations, and suggests avenues for future research.
Keywords
US Higher Education, Structural Inequality, Political Economy, Student Loan, American Dream, Institutional Bias, Policy Implementation, Lobbying, Rent-seeking, Social Class, Path Dependency, Distributive Justice, Cultural Capital, Democratic Capitalism, Process Tracing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this work fundamentally about?
This work fundamentally examines the root causes and mechanisms of institutional inequality within the US higher education system, focusing on how it is structured, maintained, and exacerbated by political economy.
What are the central thematic areas?
The central thematic areas include institutional inequality, political economy, structural reproduction, the role of student loan policy, analytical models of interests, ideas, institutions, lobbying, and rent-seeking, and critical perspectives on democratic capitalism.
What is the primary objective or research question?
The primary objective is to reveal the root causes of institutional inequality in the US higher education system, asking: How is inequality institutionally constructed, maintained, and exacerbated in a seemingly fair and widely expanded higher education system?
Which scientific method is used?
The scientific method used is a multi-level analysis combining process tracing, case study, discourse analysis, and logistic regression to investigate the policy formation and implementation of the federal student loan program.
What is covered in the main body?
The main body covers the theoretical framework of inequality, structural inequalities within US higher education institutions, analytical models of political influence, research design, empirical findings on policy implementation, and critical views on the political economy of inequality.
Which keywords characterize the work?
Key words include US Higher Education, Structural Inequality, Political Economy, Student Loan, Institutional Bias, Policy Implementation, Lobbying, Rent-seeking, and Social Class.
How does the thesis categorize US higher education institutions?
The thesis categorizes US higher education institutions into three types based on funding sources and service scopes: elite private universities, public universities, and community colleges, each with distinct structural roles in perpetuating inequality.
What is the "3I model" and how does it relate to inequality?
The "3I model" refers to Interests, Ideas, and Institutions, which are used as an analytical model to understand how institutional bias and interest solidification are structured in policy formation and contribute to inequality.
What is the role of student loan policy in exacerbating inequality?
The student loan policy is identified as a key institutional turning point that transforms public funding into private debt, acting as a mechanism through which inequality is reproduced and intensified, particularly affecting lower-income students.
How does Bourdieu's theory of social capital contribute to understanding inequality in this work?
Bourdieu's theory of social capital and reproduction is employed to explain how various forms of capital (economic, social, cultural, symbolic) contribute to the structural encirclement of public resources by government and capital, thereby perpetuating educational inequality.
- Quote paper
- Kexin Chen (Author), 2025, Roots of Inequality. Political Economy of the US Higher Education System, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1612983
