Tracking Aspirations: Neoliberal Education and Mobility for Cambodian Youth
Abstract
ABSTRACT Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in rural Cambodia, this article focuses on secondary students who aspire to social and spatial mobility. It examines how a subject‐based tracking system intersects with other facets of the educational landscape to stratify students along class lines. In doing so, it highlights how educational practices rooted in neoliberal logics can bolster some youths' aspirations more than others, but that these inequalities can be masked by discourses of choice.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Cambodian History and Society
Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies
Global Education and Multiculturalism
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Anthropology & Education Quarterly
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 2
- Publication date
- 12 February 2026
- Language
- EN