Privatization reform and inequality of educational opportunity: the case of Chile

Chile has experienced considerable educational expansion over the past few decades, as well as a privatization reform in 1981 that introduced full parental choice through a voucher sys-tem, in the context of a market-oriented transformation of the country. Using a cohort analy-sis of the 2001 Chilean Mobility Survey, this article examines trends in educational stratifica-tion in Chile over the past 50 years, with a focus on the changes that followed the privatiza-tion reform. The analysis shows that, in line with international findings, there is “persistent inequality ” of educational opportunity across cohorts in Chile. Persistent inequality is not total, however. There is a small but significant increase in inequality in the transition to secondary education, which is cotemporaneous with the market-oriented transformation. Furthermore, when school sector—a form of “qualitative inequality ” expressed in the distinction among public, private-voucher, and private-paid schools—is considered, the analysis suggests an increase in the advantages that are associated with private-voucher schools after the privati-zation reform, as well as in the benefits of attending private-paid schools during and after the reform. The article concludes by discussing the relationship among economic context, priva-tization reform, and educational inequality. Sociology of Education 2005, Vol. 78 (October): 316–343 316 Inequality of educational opportunity(IEO)—the effect of parental resources andconditions when growing up on individual educational attainment—is a key component of the intergenerational reproduction of inequality in contemporary societies (Shavit and Muller 1998; Treiman and Yip 1989). To date, trends in IEO have been studied in about two dozen countries, including almos