The Education System of the Kurdistan Region and Social Justice
Narrative Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26750/Keywords:
Social Justice, Social Equality, Economic Capital, Social Capital, Cultural Capital, Public and Private Sectors.Abstract
The citizens' perception of social justice directly affects the consent and survival of a sociopolitical system. This article focuses on the education system in the Kurdistan Region and its relationship with social justice. Education systems in underdeveloped countries have played varying roles in the process of modernization. Some have successfully reduced social inequality, particularly in terms of class and gender, while others have reproduced it. This research aims to determine whether the education system in the Kurdistan Region has reduced or reproduced social inequality. We gathered the perspectives of Kurdistan universities graduates on social justice and the impact of the academic system on inequality. Overall, the findings suggest that, according to the interviewees, the education system in the Kurdistan Region, specifically the academic system, has not effectively reduced economic inequality. However, it has positively influenced graduates in terms of social and cultural capital. The reasons behind this perspective on social inequality include the income disparity between the public and private sectors, the reproduction of discrimination within the education system based on social backgrounds, and the perception of social justice as social equality influenced by Kurdistan's egalitarian and political culture.
References
Abromeit, J. (2010) “The Origins and Development of the Model of Early Critical Theory in the Work of Max Horkheimer, Erich Fromm, and Herbert Marcuse”. in Ingram, D. (ed.), Critical Theory to Structuralism: Philosophy, Politics, and the Human Sciences, New York: Routledge.
Abuzeyit, G (2018) Investigating Kurdish Women's Experiences with Education in Kurdistan with Respect to Oppression, Master Degree in Education, Faculty of Education, Brock University St. Catharines Ontario.
Bennett, T., & Silva, E. (2006) Cultural Capital and Inequality: Policy Issues and Contexts. Cultural Trends, 15 (2-3), 87-106.
Bourdieu, P (1986) Distinction. Translated by Richard Nice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Croizet, J. C., et al. (2019) “Education and Social Class: Highlighting how educational system perpetuates social inequality”. in The Social Psychology of Inequality. London: Springer. pp. 139-152.
Deranty, J. P. (2010) Social Justice, Available at:
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/social-justice (Accessed 21/9/2023)
Horkheimer, M. (2002) “Traditional and Critical Theory”. in O’Connell, M. J., et al. (Trans.), Critical Theory: Selected Essays. New York: Continuum, pp. 206-213.
Rawls, J. (1999) A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Riessman, C. K. (1993) Narrative Analysis. London: Sage.
Van Zanten, A. (2005) “New Modes of Reproducing Social Inequality in Education: The Changing Role of Parents, Teachers, Schools and Educational Policies”. European Educational Research Journal, 4 (3), pp. 155-169.
Vernez, G., & Culbertson, S. (2016). "Initiatives to Improve Quality of Education in the Kurdistan Region-Iraq: Administration, School Monitoring, Private School Policies, and Teacher Training." RAND. Available at: www.rand.org/t/rr960 (Accessed 21.9.2023)
Walker, J., Pearce, C., Boe, K., & Lawson, M. (2019) The Power of Education to Fight Inequality: How increasing educational equality and quality is crucial to fighting economic and gender inequality. Oxford: Oxfam.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of University of Raparin
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
