No Dreadlocks Allowed: Race, Hairstyles, and Exclusion in Schools

Abstract

While the educational exclusion of students who wear hairstyles linked to people of African descent has garnered significant media attention, there has been little scholarly investigation of this phenomenon. Drawing on content analysis of dress codes in Texas public schools, this article addresses this gap in knowledge by conceptually and empirically elaborating how students who wear dreadlocks are stigmatized in schools. Engaging sociological theory asserting that stigmatization entails unfair treatment and negative labeling, I show how students who wear dreadlocks in some schools are subject to structural discrimination and stereotyping. More specifically, I develop a typology of negative stereotyping and negative treatment faced by students who wear dreadlocks in some schools. By elaborating how students who wear dreadlocks are stigmatized, this article advances theory on culture and inequality in schools. Practically, given growing efforts across the United States to pass legislation that makes school prohibitions on hairstyles linked to people of African descent illegal, it is especially important to understand how these hair bans stigmatize students.