Organised Abandonment in Education
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| Title: | Organised Abandonment in Education |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Claire Neaves (ORCID |
| Source: | British Journal of Sociology of Education. 2026 47(2):353-370. |
| Availability: | Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 18 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Evaluative |
| Descriptors: | Educational Finance, Investment, Retrenchment, Foreign Countries, Social Class, Social Justice, Educational Policy, Racism, Humanization |
| Geographic Terms: | United Kingdom (Bristol) |
| DOI: | 10.1080/01425692.2025.2592127 |
| ISSN: | 0142-5692 1465-3346 |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the histories and geographies of educational disinvestment in England through the lens of Ruth Wilson Gilmore's 'organised abandonment'. The concept of organised abandonment refers to the intentional disinvestment in particular communities by state and capitalist interests. Such disinvestment makes groups vulnerable to precarity and harm, entrenching racialised and classed dispossession. Drawing on findings from school- and community- based research in Bristol, England, we show how organised abandonment, when applied to education, functions in two interrelated ways: by 'abandoning places' -- the material, social and economic infrastructures of children's lives, and; by 'abandoning futures' -- the circumscription of educational aspirations and the foreclosing of alternatives for young people. The paper argues that the concept of organised abandonment not only offers a useful lens to recognise longstanding, active, and deeply felt structural injustices in education, but it also underlines the political necessity of reparative action for the field of education. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1500747 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the histories and geographies of educational disinvestment in England through the lens of Ruth Wilson Gilmore's 'organised abandonment'. The concept of organised abandonment refers to the intentional disinvestment in particular communities by state and capitalist interests. Such disinvestment makes groups vulnerable to precarity and harm, entrenching racialised and classed dispossession. Drawing on findings from school- and community- based research in Bristol, England, we show how organised abandonment, when applied to education, functions in two interrelated ways: by 'abandoning places' -- the material, social and economic infrastructures of children's lives, and; by 'abandoning futures' -- the circumscription of educational aspirations and the foreclosing of alternatives for young people. The paper argues that the concept of organised abandonment not only offers a useful lens to recognise longstanding, active, and deeply felt structural injustices in education, but it also underlines the political necessity of reparative action for the field of education. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0142-5692 1465-3346 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/01425692.2025.2592127 |
