Performing legitimacy: philanthropic foundations and the embeddedness of privatisation in Chilean public schools

Philanthropic organisations have become increasingly influential in education systems, yet little is known about how their legitimacy is produced within schools. This article shifts attention from philanthropy’s macro-level influence on education policy to the school-level dynamics through which philanthropic actors become legitimate in Chilean public schools. Drawing on organisational legitimacy theory and its performative and discursive extensions, the study analyses two case studies of foundations working in public schools, based on interviews, observations, and document analysis. Findings identify three interconnected forms of legitimacy underpinning school actors’ positive evaluations of philanthropy: pragmatic legitimacy, linked to foundations’ capacity to compensate for state shortcomings; technical legitimacy, built through expertise, evidence, and evaluation; and emotional legitimacy, grounded in affective relations of care and recognition. Through these findings, the article shows how philanthropic legitimacy is performatively enacted through everyday practices, expert authority, and affective ties, sustaining the embedded presence of private actors in public education.