Toward a Theory of Racialized Institutional Logics in Education

Abstract

Educational scholars are currently directing attention toward the role of educational organizations in maintaining or disrupting the forces and consequences of racism. The institutional logics perspective has utility for studying how deep-seated and taken-for-granted ideas influence the structures, policies, and practices of educational systems. However, there has been strikingly little attention to the ways institutional logics are shaped by dominant racial ideologies. Extending Ray's racialized organizations framework, this conceptual essay develops the racialized institutional logics perspective. We demonstrate how societal and field-specific institutional logics are undergirded by dominant racial frames that center whiteness and evade consideration of systemic racism. As a result, individuals are more likely to access, frame, interpret, and enact logics in ways that reinforce racial inequities. We argue that the racialized institutional logics perspective illuminates how institutional logics are racial structures that enable certain forms of agency while constraining others. We discuss how researchers, policymakers, and educational leaders can apply the racialized logics lens to understand and ultimately advance efforts to dismantle racial inequities in schools.