Different reproduction codes as a cause of institutional discrimination against certain milieus of migrant children

Racism is often attributed to prejudice. Pedagogical approaches thus seek to tackle such prejudices or stereotypes. In contrast, the concept of institutional discrimination relies on the thesis that racism is not limited to prejudices and cannot therefore be overcome by concepts of interculturality and diversity. The objective is to show that the concept and its systems-theoretical and empirically substantiated further development by Gomolla and Radtke (2009), which has significantly influenced the discussion in Germany, does not take different modes of learning related to specific ways of life into consideration to a sufficient extent. To this end, the theory of reproduction codes, which is considered to offer a wider range of explanations than prominent habitus theories, but is as yet little known, are used to discuss an alternative interpretation of Gomolla and Radtke’s (2009) empirical findings, also due to the fact that, in contrast to Luhmann’s theory, it develops a dialectical-materialistic concept of code. This then enables the development of perspectives with regard to a non-exclusionary community.