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Paper short abstract:

This paper applies Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital to elucidate the public school choice decision-making process of middle-class mothers depending on their intra-family class differences within families, with a concern about mothers’ potential.

Paper long abstract:

Studies have shown that middle-class parents tend to exit from public schools and choose selective schools such as private schools and national schools in Japan (Kobari 2002, 2008, Kataoka 2009). So far, the “middle-class” has been principally measured by the fathers' occupation and the mothers' education in research on parental school choices. Little research has been done to illuminate the social class differences between parents within families during the school choice process. This gendered measurement of parental social class obscures how mothers’ school choices relate to both maternal education and occupation and vice versa. On the other hand, previous studies on parental choice note that mothers, in particular middle-class mothers, tend to involve in the educational transitions as Ojuken in primary and secondary schools(Kita 2012). This paper explores the extent to which mothers’ public school choice and involvement in educational transitions are affected by their intra-family class differences, with a concern about mothers’ potential. While much of the research on middle-class parental school choice has been done in Western countries such as the UK, the US, France, and Germany (Mayer et al 2020: 36), this research applies a modified Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital to demonstrate the maternal school choice decision-making process in a Japanese context. This modified theoretical framework attempts to highlight the differences in individual but relational capitals between fathers and mothers within the family. In order to shed light on the class differences within the family other than between families, this research adopts a qualitative case study of Chinese-Japanese intermarried middle-class mothers’ public school choices in Japan. This paper contributes to adding to the body of research on parental school choices at both empirical and theoretical levels. The empirical contribution fills a gap in the current research on parental public school choices, particularly the decision-making process of middle-class mothers within the family. The theoretical contribution of this paper is supported by its original operationalization of cultural capital by taking a closer look at gendered class relationships within the family through parental school choices.