Forming Identities in Community College

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-10 - Complicating Identities in Higher Education

Abstract

Using Kaufman and Feldman’s (2004) seminal study of students at a four-year university as a conceptual template, this 26-participant qualitative study examines how the community college affects students’ felt-identity from a sociological perspective. Overall, Kaufman and Feldman’s original categories intelligence/knowledgeability, occupation, and cosmopolitanism remained salient for the community college population we studied. The difference lay in how concretely the students’ felt identities were defined and enacted prior to entering the community college environment. We suggest that focusing on the community college may help scholars and practitioners alike further understand Kaufman and Feldman’s sociological and environmental approach, especially in terms of the function of the community college in students’ plans for social mobility.

Authors

• Jessica Robinson, Baylor University

• Cara Cliburn Allen, Baylor University

• Nathan Alleman, Baylor University

• Ryan Erck, Baylor University

• Katie Robbins, Baylor University