The Social Valuation of Grit

• In Event: 3481 - Section on Social Psychology Refereed Roundtables (cosponsored with Section on Sociology of Emotions)
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 06. Advances in Sociology of Self and Identity

Abstract

Grit, comprising of perseverance and passion towards long-term goals, has been suggested as a strong predictor of academic achievement and professional success. Grit as a construct, however, has been largely studied without taking into account the context that may have a great deal of influence on individual’s development of grit, limiting its sociological utility. The social value of grit (i.e., how much people value grit) might vary by society, and it may be another significant factor that could produce cultural and social structural variance in the development of grit. Using survey data collected from South Korea and the U.S., this paper investigates the social valuation of grit, and whether and how the valuation of grit is associated with individual development of grit in these two countries. Findings show that people from less advantaged social statuses tend to perceive grit as key to success more than those who are from more advantaged statuses in both samples. Despite this structural commonality, cultural differences are also found: only in the United States, the effect of how much respondents value grit as a virtue is positively associated with the individual development of grit. This study takes the first step toward empirically investigating cross-cultural differences in the social valuation of grit, placing grit in the proper contexts and potentially contributing to a rich foundation for the knowledge with regard to grit and its structural and cultural underpinnings.

Author

• Hye Won Kwon, University of Iowa