Meaning Networks and Multi-dimensional Choice in Educational and Life Course Decision Making

• In Event: 469 - Regular Session. Sociology of Culture 2

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the multiple dimensions of meaning that surround prospective educational and professional choices for a nationally representative cohort of Russian secondary school students. Using network analytic methods to examine the Russian Panel Study of Trajectories in Education and Career’ (TrEC), we show that while economic rationales are some of the characteristics most often cited as desirable in a future occupation, they are not central to the network of meaning created from the association of concepts. Ethical rationales prove to be less frequently used, but much clearer in their emergent meaning. We also find that students in academic secondary schools have a much more elaborated set of meanings than students from vocational secondary schools. Our findings problematize one-dimensional (often economic) understanding of success and a desirable future that are often implicit in large-scale survey research. We discuss the importance of these findings in relation to their specific empirical focus and their methodological significance for the integration of cultural sociology and survey research for the study of educational and life course decision-making.

Authors

• Timothy Malacarne, Mount Holyoke College

• Dmitry Kurakin, National Research University Higher School of Economics