Interdisciplinary Approaches in Bridging the Achievement Gap: Structural Power Theory and Minority Male Academic Success

Structural power paradigms have been applied to analyzing the development pursuits of countries, organizations, and even markets. This paper applies structural power to analyze minority male learners' access to knowledge, money, technology, and security as an integral part of directing institutional responsibility efforts, and promoting academic success and equity in higher education. Without this component of assessment/analysis the vast majority of Minority Male Initiatives (MMIs) are relegated to hit-and-miss interventions, leaving many eager students unsupported, and facing exacerbated barriers to their academic success, and the statistically correlated positive life outcomes associated with higher levels of education. Incidents in Baltimore, Ferguson, and the U.S. nationally, highlight the persistent social and economic vulnerability of young men of color. Despite evidence that education and income level do not universally insulate individuals from abuses of power by law enforcement and other deficits of political capital, advanced education and higher income levels remain highly correlated with ‘more cordial’ interactions with varied authorities. The fields of political economy, education, and socio-economics are bridged in the application of inter-disciplinary analytical lenses to this politically polarizing issue.