Studying with Friends: Social Class, Cultural Similarity, and Academic Peer Networks at an Elite University

• In Event: 3429 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 14. Higher Education: Selective Institutions

Abstract

Social and cultural reproduction scholars have documented class-based differences in students’ engagement strategies with authority figures and the unequal returns that these strategies yield. However, despite growing evidence that peer networks also operate as important institutional agents, little is known about how class and culture shape the formation and navigation of peer networks in ways that maintain class inequalities in opportunities. This paper examines processes of cultural and social reproduction within the academic domain of higher education. Specifically, I examine whether and how cultural similarity—defined here as shared knowledge, tastes, and styles—shapes the formation and navigation of academic peer groups in ways that maintain educational disparities. Drawing on a case study of an engineering school at an elite private university where I conducted in-depth interviews with 67 students and classroom observations of small working groups, I argue that cultural similarity drives the form and tenor of academic peer groups at individual, institutional, and interactional levels. At each level, I show that social class and culture shape patterns of ease in integrating majority-affluent academic peer networks. Culturally-mediated academic peer network formation and navigation can have unintended consequences in that they may concentrate learning opportunities among the university’s most affluent students. The findings make theoretical contributions to the literature on social and cultural reproduction in education, as well as offer implications for higher education practice and policy.

Author

• Anthony Matthias Johnson, Harvard University