Crafting Legitimate Identities: Promotional Strategies in the Ontario Non-Elite Private School Sector

Abstract

Conventional wisdom within the sociology of education and organizations posits that schools achieve legitimacy by conforming to institutionalized norms and mimicking the actions of successful peers. Recent work on non-elite private schools (NEPS) shows that this institutional type may serve as an exception to this logic, generally adopting what can be perceived as illegitimate forms and practices. We conduct a mixed-methods analysis of the promotional profiles of 204 NEPS located within Ontario, Canada. We ask: How does this unorthodox organizational population carve a space for itself within a fiercely competitive and centuries-old market? Our findings illustrate that these schools engage in niche-seeking behavior, specifically catering to changing parental preferences for a caring consumer ethos with more holistic forms of child development. More broadly, they employ rhetorical strategies (e.g., fostering confidence and global-mindedness) that render their efficiency beyond the scope of verification by potential consumers. We interpret these empirical findings through the lens of contemporary theorizing within organizational sociology.