In a global context of education, the case of Sweden is an interesting example of how new policies transform education into lucrative marketplaces (Ball 2007; 2012) and how neo-liberal reforms affect social equity. The aim of this paper is to present an empirical example of how policy of school choice affects the social structure of upper secondary school in the case of Stockholm, Sweden. The point of departure is my ongoing thesis in which I discuss and analyze the present marketization of upper secondary education in Stockholm as a competitive field. A short historical retrospect of the Swedish educational system shows a major transformation of governance during the last two decades, a shift from public to market-controlled education. Two key changes in this transformation took place in the 1990s and came to greatly affect upper-secondary education in Sweden. Through the introduction of a voucher system, families and pupils were given a greater possibility to decide which school they wanted to attend. In turn, the voucher system based on public funding created a basis for “free schools” governed by private agents. The transformation has been most crucial in the metropolitan area of Sweden and in particular the case of Stockholm. In the upper secondary schools in Stockholm, which are in focus of this paper, factors such as school choice, school expansion and increasing school segregation have created a intense competiveness between schools (Bunar 2010). Counter to understanding this school competition as a market of buyers and providers, I draw my analysis from the theoretical framework of Bourdieu's sociology and his central concept of field. Other key concepts that I make use of in this paper are symbolic capital and strategies (Bourdieu 1996).   

The main research question in this paper is: how are different kinds of symbolic assets – such as recruitment, seniority, reputation, "profiles" and study programs –  accumulated and utilized within the social field of upper secondary school of Stockholm?

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