ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the concept of everyday privatization, connecting it to education generally and anthropological literature on village life in Cambodia specifically, as well as provides a methodological overview of the research. Educational privatization is often examined as part of government policy reforms. This “top-down” approach focuses on particular government policies such as the school-based management approach to decentralization or the growth of private universities. This book uses an alternative theoretical framework to understand the structures of privatization and the agency of those involved in the process. This framework can be conceptualized as a “bottom-up” approach that focuses on social practices. In this perspective, it is the very social interactions that constitute the phenomenon of privatization. Privatization is thus not only a government policy, but also a complex set of social practices, which influence and are influenced by historic patterns of culture and society. By looking at the histories, biographies, and social relations of a group of people in one community, Preah Go, the book explores the way in which everyday life constitutes privatization.
