Representation of Educational Inequality in Contemporary Fiction Literature and Its Impact on the Reproduction of Students’ Cultural Capital

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the representation of educational inequality in contemporary fiction literature and analyze its impact on the reproduction of students’ cultural capital within educational and sociocultural contexts.

Methodology: This study was conducted using a qualitative research design based on thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis. The participants included 36 individuals from Tehran consisting of upper secondary school students, Persian literature teachers, literary critics, and doctoral students in sociology and literature who were selected through purposeful sampling with maximum variation. In addition to semi-structured interviews, 12 contemporary Persian novels and short story collections published between 2000 and 2025 were selected for textual analysis based on their engagement with themes related to education, class inequality, social mobility, and cultural capital. Data collection tools included semi-structured interviews, textual analysis frameworks, field notes, and analytic memos. The data were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, thematic categorization, and critical discourse analysis with the assistance of MAXQDA 2024 software.

Findings: The findings revealed that contemporary fiction literature frequently represents educational inequality through symbolic and cultural mechanisms associated with language, family educational background, institutional prestige, and hidden curriculum. The themes of reproduction of cultural capital, symbolic violence, educational exclusion, and class-based identity formation emerged as dominant conceptual categories. Literary narratives often portrayed privileged students as possessing greater linguistic legitimacy, communicative confidence, and institutional adaptability, while marginalized students were represented through silence, anxiety, symbolic invisibility, and academic insecurity. Critical discourse analysis further demonstrated that meritocratic discourse within literary texts frequently conceals structural inequalities by framing educational success as an outcome of individual effort rather than inherited cultural advantage.

Conclusion: The results demonstrated that contemporary fiction literature plays a significant role in both reflecting and reproducing educational inequality through symbolic representations of language, culture, identity, and institutional legitimacy.