Expectations,education, and opportunity

Using a long panel of youths, we establish a causal link between parental expectations regarding education and educational attainment. In particular, we use an instrumental variables approach to find that the child’s chances of obtaining a high school or college degree are increasing in the parent’s expectations of the likelihood of these events. We then use differences between the objective likelihood of a child’s educational attainment and the parents’ subjective probabilities to consider the hypothesis that lower educational outcomes among certain groups are driven by a “culture of despair,” where children are low-achieving because they are expected to underachieve. While we do find that children from households with lower levels of income, wealth, and parental education are less likely to attain high school and college degrees, we reject the hypothesis that this is driven by low subjective expectations of educational success. Rather, we find that parents from disadvantaged groups have expectations for the educational outcomes of their children that differ more from the statistical likelihood of these outcomes than do parents of children from advantaged households. That is, we find that parents in more disadvantaged households are more optimistic about the educational outcomes of their children than those from more advantaged households.     

Cultural capital in educational research: A critical assessment

In this article, we assess how the concept of cultural capital has been imported into the English language, focusing on educational research. We argue that a dominant interpretation of cultural capital has coalesced with two central premises. First, cultural capital denotes knowledge of or facility with “highbrow” aesthetic culture. Secondly, cultural capital is analytically and causally distinct from other important forms of knowledge or competence (termed “technical skills,” “human capital,” etc.). We then review Bourdieu’s educational writings to demonstrate that neither of these premises is essential to his understanding of cultural capital. In the third section, we discuss a set of English-language studies that draw on the concept of cultural capital, but eschew the dominant interpretation. These serve as the point of departure for an alternative definition. Our definition emphasizes Bourdieu’s reference to the capacity of a social class to “impose” advantageous standards of evaluation on the educational institution. We discuss the empirical requirements that adherence to such a definition entails for researchers, and provide a brief illustration of the intersection of institutionalized evaluative standards and the educational practices of families belonging to different social classes. Using ethnographic data from a study of social class differences in family-school relationships, we show how an African-American middle-class family exhibits cultural capital in a way that an African-American family below the poverty level does not.     

Keys That Jingle and Fold: Federal Student Aid and the Expansion of Educational Opportunity for Black Women

Since the mid-20th century, the United States has seen a dramatic increase in Black women’s educational attainment. Given Black women’s status as “double minorities” and their disproportionate representation among low-income Americans, this trend has important implications for equal opportunity in the United States. While scholars recognize higher education as a central determinant of socioeconomic well-being and political engagement, we have yet to consider the role that federal higher education policies have played in expanding Black women’s access to college degrees. This article examines the extent to which student aid programs have supported Black women’s educational pursuits and influenced their educational attainment. I find that financial aid usage is associated with greater educational attainment and is perceived by Black women as significantly expanding educational opportunity.     

上海文化创意产业人才策略研究

上海文化创意产业发展的关键时期,人才问题愈加突出。在对上海文化创意产业人才发展基本情况调查的基础上,指出目前人才发展问题主要受认定机制、培养机制、知识产权保护机制、长效生活保障机制等几个方面的影响,上海应重视人才问题,不断创新人才发展策略,加大政策创新突破力度,为文化创意产业人才培养、发展创造良好环境,充分发挥其创意成果的转化、形成新的竞争优势、推动城市在"创新驱动、转型发展"中的独特作用。     

The Effects of Marital Culture and Social Structure on Marital Aspirations and Attitudes in “Fragile Families”

This research brings together insights from the fields of sociology and social work, providing an integrated study of marriage as a cultural and structural institution. The goals of the study are twofold: first, to empirically assess the predictive power of cultural versus structural elements of marital aspirations and attitudes among “fragile families”; second, to determine if the aforementioned relationship and outcomes differ by immigrant status. The results offer more support for the role of structure than the function of culture, suggesting that rather than demonizing disadvantaged families for having “defective” cultural values, policy planners and human service providers should recognize the importance of educational attainment and economic productivity in fragile families. Even populations most disposed to hold more “traditional” views of marriage and family life are constrained by the realities of structural disadvantage.     

Chuck and Pierre at the Welfare Office1

After an ethnographic vignette that encapsulates the typical trajectory of an applicant to welfare benefits observed during a year of collaborative fieldwork, this brief essay will put to work Tilly’s notion of “invisible elbow” and Bourdieu’s understanding of waiting as a strategy of power in order to clarify the cultural dynamics of a welfare waiting room in the age of neoliberalism.     

Family Background and Higher Education Attainment Among Children of Immigrants

This study uses a modified form of Perna’s educational choice model (Studying college access and choice: A proposed conceptual model, Springer, Berlin, 2006) to examine whether children of immigrants have an “immigrant advantage” related to educational attainment. Children of immigrants represent approximately one in four children in the US and are the fastest growing segment of school-aged children. Using data from all 16 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997–2013), a random effects regression analysis indicated that children with at least one immigrant parent had a higher likelihood of higher education attainment. When separate regressions were run by race/ethnicity, the immigrant advantage was only present for Black and Hispanic respondents. Results presented evidence of omitted variable bias when modeling higher education attainment where parental immigration status was absent.     

Professional Sports as an Alternative Channel of Social Mobility*

Inequality of opportunity in the process of occupational attainment via the educational system is anticipated to cause a tendency toward alternative routes of social mobility among underprivileged groups. Professional sports have often been referred to in this respect, particularly in connection with the overrepresentation of ethnic minorities in them. The present study attempts to determine if the choice of a career in sports is mainly a matter of an individual's educational achievement and aspirations, or whether such a tendency is conditioned by socioeconomic and ethnic background. An investigation of this question among junior soccer players in Israel indicates that the preference for a career in soccer is associated with both low levels of educational achievement and modest goals, regardless of family background. Thus, at least as far as Israeli society is concerned, it is not only “cultural predisposition” which makes professional sports more attractive for lower ethnic groups, but, also the greater difficulties that youngsters of such origin encounter in the educational system.     

The Influence of Ethnicity on Listening,Communication Competence,Approach, and Avoidance

The purpose of study reported in this article was to examine differences in communication and listening predispositions and communication competence across ethnicity, as well as contribute to the discussion of the growing cultural diversity in the educational and work contexts of the United States. Subjects were 275 undergraduates enrolled in a basic “Introduction to Communication Studies” course. Results were that Whites are perceived as more “approaching” and communicatively competent and African Americans are perceived as less expressive and communicatively competent. Hispanics and Asian Americans rank somewhere in between Whites and African Americans. However, what must be kept in mind is what one perceives as characteristics of a “good listener” or a “good communicator” is often determined by subtle, yet powerful influences and rules characteristic of one's own ethnic background.     

Talent flowscapes and circular mobility in a Belt and Road (BRI) perspective - Global talent flows revisited

This article brings the role of talent migration to the discussion of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) mainly focusing on academic talents. We explore the foundation for BRI's talent development as a long-term and gradual process building on policies dating back to China's opening in 1978. China's opening saw an increased number of individuals who could improve their skills, knowledge, and network from China globally or inside China from elsewhere on the globe. These global experiences have resulted in the Chinese government, companies, and institutions' necessity to compete for talent or human resources on a global “market”. We interpret the call for establishing people-to-people connections within the BRI as an intensification of China's existing talent strategy. However, at a micro-level, we continue to find that international talents and returned migrants perceive themselves as outsiders which hinders China's talent attraction policies and results in a circular movement of academic talents to and from China     

The Branded Self:

This investigation makes the argument that to a considerable degree, our sense of our selves is connected to the way advertising helps us shape our identities and focuses our attention on brands as a way of signifying who we are to others. My point of departure is Norbert Wiley’s The Semiotic Self (1995:37). I will use Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism to deal with Wiley’s notion that the self involves an internal conversation in which the present self (the “I”) talks about the past self (the “me”) to the future self (the “you”). The branded self discusses some important concepts in semiotic analysis and relates them to the notion of the “self” and then to other matters, such as branding.     

Resources of Grandparents: Educational Outcomes Across Three Generations in Europe and Israel

Educational attainment depends on parents' material and cultural resources. In many families, the grandparents also provide resources that directly or indirectly support their children's educational careers. That is why we applied a multigenerational view and tested if and under which conditions the resources of grandparents are relevant for the educational outcomes of their grandchildren. Using data from the fifth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (N = 27,447), we examined the association between the education of children and the resources of their grandparents. The results show that the impact of grandparental resources is not generally negligible and not entirely mediated by the parental generation. The resources of the grandparents can be used as a substitute for a lack of parental resources. In addition, the “grandparent effect” also differs across countries, indicating that certain welfare state provisions seem to enhance or attenuate the relevance of grandparents' resources.     

The State of Research in Latino Academic Attainment

In this essay, I present an interdisciplinary examination of the state of research in Latino education, addressing not only the cultural forces influencing Latinos’ educational attainment, but also the structural conditions faced by them—as a racialized minority group—throughout their schooling and that have a cumulative effect on their academic attainment. Overall, I suggest that by engaging in a critical review of the literature on Latinos’ educational attainment, the reader will acknowledge that the racially driven hierarchical structural arrangements are highly responsible for the patterns observed.     

“You Have to Be Strong to Be Gay”: Bullying and Educational Attainment in LGB New Zealanders

SUMMARY

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) persons in New Zealand are highly vulnerable to bullying, although bullying appears to have evolved from physical to primarily verbal abuse. Data from the Lavender Islands national study of 2,269 LGBs in New Zealand suggest that coming out early as LGB appears associated with lower levels of educational attainment, which in turn is associated with bullying and verbal assault. LGBs with higher educational attainment are more satisfied with an LGB identity than those with lower educational attainment. The data suggest that the consequences of bullying and assault may be longer term and more far-reaching than even the psychological challenges found in the literature. Consequences may include lower lifelong levels of satisfaction with an LGB identity, and an early coming out “penalty” in education. Quantitative data are supported by the unprompted narratives of respondents who expressed difficulties within the high school environment. The study also found relatively high levels of teacher discrimination and verbal assault reported by high educational attainers. In general, LGB educational attainers may perhaps be more appropriately called “educational survivors.”     

Family size,father's education,and children's educational attainment in intact white families

One body of previous research has documented a negative relationship between family size and educational attainment (Blau and Duncan 1967; Sewell et al. 1980; Coleman 1988). Another body of research has argued that because parents are likely to act as potential equalizers of attainment gaps among their children, this relationship is likely to vary depending on the level of parental education (Johnson 1972; Zajonc 1976; Griliches 1979). In an attempt to integrate these two bodies of research, this study examines recent GSS data on white men and women from intact families and aged 25 and over. This research finds support for both arguments. The findings suggest that although there is a direct negative relationship between family size and educational attainment, it varies across levels of father's education. The effect of family size on educational attainment turns positive for men when the father's education is at least high school. For women, it is positive only when the father's education is at least a B.A. Additionally, this relationship holds for men born after 1950 and for women born before 1950. This study rationalizes that changing labor market conditions and cultural pressures to be educated have contributed to such differential impacts of father's education on children's educational attainment across cohorts.     

Afrikaans,Inc.: the Afrikaans culture industry after apartheid

Following apartheid’s demise, the Afrikaans language was forced to part with the privileged position it once held under the National Party’s guardianship and has, subsequently, contracted in a number of its functions. Despite growing concerns about the language’s “endangered” status, Afrikaans has proven its vitality in multiple market-driven domains. In this paper, I trace the expansion of the Afrikaans culture industry after apartheid. I argue that this process was fomented, at least in part, by paranoia about Afrikaans’s “fading position.” Because Afrikaners still command a vast material and cultural capital, they have been the prime producers, sellers and buyers of Afrikaans language media and cultural commodities. Thus, together with the growth of the Afrikaans culture industry, an array of physical, digital and psychological spaces has opened up where white Afrikaans speakers can be a majority. I argue that the expansion of these spaces has laid the foundation for the formation of new Afrikaner subjectivities and enclaved identities, and contributed to the production and strengthening of separatist tendencies amongst certain Afrikaners. Instead of being an emancipatory force, facilitating Afrikaans speakers’ forceful integration into a new South Africa and “rainbow nation,” it has succeeded in reaffirming and naturalising the imagined boundaries of Afrikanerdom.     

Ages,Life Stages,and Generational Cohorts: Decomposing the Immigrant First and Second Generations in the United States1

This article focuses on problems with the definition and empirical identification of immigrant “first” and “second” generations in the United States. These loosely conceived aggregates are decomposed into a typology of distinct generational cohorts defined by age and life stage at migration for the foreign born and by parental nativity for the U.S. born. Differences in educational and occupational attainment and in language and other aspects of acculturation are then examined to consider whether the practice of “lumping” these generational cohorts together, or “splitting” them into distinctive units of analysis, is empirically supported by available evidence. The paper concludes with some thoughts on data needs and methodological considerations in the study of immigrant generations.

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Religion und Bildungserfolg im Migrationskontext – Theoretische Argumente,empirische Befunde und offene Fragen

Religion has received extensive attention as a factor influencing immigrants’ integration. This paper examines the role of religion in explaining ethnic educational inequalities in Germany. Due to a general lack of research in this field, the paper provides an overview of existing empirical findings, specifies theoretical arguments on how religious affiliation, belief and participation possibly affect educational achievement among children of immigrants. Using data from the first wave of the “Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in four European Countries” collected in 2010/11 the paper tests key arguments on the influence of religion on the educational attainment among 14-year-old immigrant and non-immigrant students at German schools. Compared to other religious groups, Muslims display lower rates of educational achievement. However, this can be largely explained by their social background and is independent from their levels of individual religiosity. Interestingly, individual religiosity has a positive effect on the educational achievement among Protestant students, whether with or without a migration background.