Rights consciousness, sense of constraint and the reproduction of inequalities: perceptions of rights among pupils of low socioeconomic status who completed a human rights education unit

This study explores the intersection of rights consciousness, rights mobilisation and cultural capital among high school pupils of low socioeconomic status. The research design comprised interviews with Israeli pupils who completed a human rights education (HRE) unit in civic studies. The findings indicated that the vast majority of pupils demonstrated a developed rights consciousness and noted that the HRE studies assisted them in naming rights violations. However, pupils articulated various reasons for their reluctance to mobilise rights, including communal norms, lack of trust in adults and institutional systems, apprehension of the implications, and considering the process unfeasible. We conceptualise pupils’ perceptions of their rights as reflecting a sense of constraint, which frames rights mobilisation as privileged and distanced. This sense of constraint sheds light on the crucial role of cultural capital in pupils’ rights consciousness and rights mobilisation, thus extending our understanding of how social location should shape HRE pedagogies.