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

Session Submission Type: Paper Session

Abstract

Important issues in college access and equity are addressed, with careful reconsiderations of foundational ideas and definitions. Included studies challenge us to rethink the meanings of such things as what constitutes college aspirations among non-traditional female community college students, the repercussions of the first-generation college student identity construct, the dilemmas inherent in changing one’s social class status as a result of higher education, and the symbolic power that racial/ethnic diversity has and what it represents for colleges and universities and their publics.

Sub Unit

• Higher Education, Sociology of

Session Organizer

• Regina Deil-Amen, University of Arizona

Presiders

• Ann L. Mullen, University of Toronto

• Melanie Jones Gast, DePaul University

Individual Presentations

• Fake It 'Til You Make It: Why Community College Students' Aspirations Hold Steady - Kelly J. Nielsen, University of California-San Diego

• The Social Construction of the First-Generation College Student: Classification, Identity, and Struggles over Symbolic Boundaries - Tina M. Wildhagen, Smith College

• Transitioning into the Middle Class after College: Hidden Injuries and Partial Mobility - Elizabeth M. Lee, Ohio University

• Threading the Diversity Needle: The Impact of Minority Group Presence on Perceptions of Organizational Status - Noah Askin, INSEAD

Discussant

• Vivian S. Louie, City University of New York-Hunter College