Marginality in Education

Marginality refers broadly to the placement of individuals outside of the mainstream or dominant avenues of education, politics, economics, and opportunities. The theory of marginality was developed by Robert Park in 1928 to describe the inability of immigrants to become fully part of their new country while simultaneously feeling more and more disconnected from their former country as they adopted aspects of their host country, such as language and values. Park coined the term marginal man and applied it to those immigrants who found themselves on the “margins” between two societies. Later, the theory of marginality was applied more widely to include interracial persons who were depicted as being caught between two or more racial, ethnic, or cultural groups.

Students from underrepresented groups may be marginalized ...