Breaking the Mold: Conceptualizing Organizational Image, Fitting In, and Belonging in College

• In Event: 3429 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 13. Higher Education: Retention, Identity and Belonging

Abstract

People often assume that organizational belonging necessarily entails “fitting-in” socio-demographically with other members, such that if a person is not like everyone else (e.g.: being black in an all-white environment), then she must not belong. At first, this logic seems like common sense, especially at college, where nonwhite students are usually outnumbered. Research on minority student belonging in university implies that not “fitting in” constitutes a significant barrier to feeling part of the campus community (Hurtado & Carter 1997; Strayhorn 2012). Classic research on the power of homophily (McPherson 1983; Popeliarz & McPherson 1995) and ingroup prototypes (Hogg 2001) also point to the alignment of socio-demographic “fit” with “belonging”. However, by assuming that the only standard for “fitting-in” is sharing socio-demographic characteristics, researchers forget that group members can utilize other standards to assess their “fit” in an organization (Greenberg & Mollick 2017), such as whether they adhere to organizational values or participate in institutionalized activities. Moreover, prior research does not make clear exactly what ruler of reference people use to determine “fit”-is the basis for comparison the group’s most average, most typical, or most ideal member? I argue that “fitting-in” and “belonging” are under-examined and under-theorized concepts. By ignoring the actual standards of fit used by students, and by conflating socio-demographic “fit” with “belonging”, schools may create assimilationist policies that inadvertently isolate minority students even more. Instead of imposing a priori assumptions on what “fit” and “belonging” mean, I draw on interviews with minority students (N=57) at a predominantly white college to investigate the bases students actually use to determine their “fit” on campus and how they characterize the relationship between “fitting-in” and “belonging.” Results suggest students are both individually liberated and socially constrained by their standard of comparison, but that they can “belong” even when they do not “fit-in”.

Author

• Lynn Gencianeo Chin, Washington and Lee University