Constructing Educational Elitism and Class Privilege in Pakistani Elite Schools Promotional Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Institutional Self-Representation

Abstract

This study looks into the institutional promotional discourse of constructing Pakistan's educational elites and the class privilege in the context of elite schools. The study is qualitative in nature and analyzes around fifty promotional texts that have been gathered from the official websites of ten elite private schools in Lahore, Pakistan, along with promotional texts from the promotional materials. To analyse discourse, the Three-Dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis framework of Fairclough is used which encompasses the textual, discursive, and social practice dimensions of discourse. The findings show that the discursive strategies that are used to build elite educational identities are educational excellence, internationalization, leadership, global citizenship and institutional prestige. These representations serve as branding and create the institutional superiority while maintaining the symbolic power and class distinction. The study finds that promotional discourse is not only an institutional marketing tool, but also an ideological tool that influences the perception of the quality of education in public and creates educational inequality in the Pakistani educational market.