The Social Construction of the First-Generation College Student: Classification, Identity, and Struggles over Symbolic Boundaries

• In Event: 331 - Regular Session. Sociology of Higher Education I - Aspiring Students, Aspiring Organizations: The Social Construction of Identity and Status in Higher Education

Abstract

Whereas much research treats “first-generation college student” as a category with inherent, self-evident meaning, this study seeks to understand the particular discursive meaning that one selective college has attached to this category and its consequences for students who are classified as such. Through in-depth interviews with college staff and first-generation students, along with observation of events aimed at first-generation college students, I analyze the social construction of the first-generation college student category at one selective college and students’ reactions to that categorization. Results reveal a discourse about first-generation college students that portrays them as culturally and academically deficient and in need of institutional help. First-generation students must demonstrate their worthiness of this help by being willing to break with their families of origin and adopt middle-class cultural styles. Students respond to this discourse in varying ways, struggling over the symbolic boundaries that separate “real” first-generation students from the rest.

Author

• Tina M. Wildhagen, Smith College