The Role of Corporal Punishment in Neo-Liberal Education: What Students Think about Punishment and Socialization Rikhia Ghoshal Abstract: The United Nations, the epitome of development, liberalism, globalization and justice has recognized that the use of corporal punishment to discipline children is detrimental for their mental and physical development and also a violation of child rights. It urged countries to ban the practice and India signed the UN convention on the ban. However, the realities of the punishment of children in different kinds of schools are affected by the privatization of education in the neo-liberal era in spite of the ban. In the light of this situation, this paper tries to explore the differences in the use of this practice in various schools of Kolkata and how that is affecting their understanding of punishment and the overall schooling experiences in this era of rights and freedoms, propelled by globalization, liberalization and privatization. Keywords: corporal punishment; neo-liberalism; surveillance; disciplining; socialization; social capital; cultural capital; hidden curriculum; home-school continuity.