Center for Open Access in Science (COAS) OPEN JOURNAL FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH (OJER) ISSN (Online) 2560-5313 * ojer@centerprode.com

OJER Home

2018 - Volume 2 - Number 1

Factors Influencing the Formation of the Educational Choices of Individuals of Different Social Origin: A Review of Recent Sociological Scientific Literature

Georgia Spiliopoulou * gspiliopoulou@upatras.gr * ORCID: 0000-0002-5588-0557 * ResearcherID: U-1511-2017
University of Patras, Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education

Gerasimos Koustourakis * koustourakis@upatras.gr * ORCID: 0000-0001-8499-5399
University of Patras, Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education

Anna Asimaki * asimaki@upatras.gr * ORCID: 0000-0002-0518-4123
University of Patras, Department of Primary Education

Open Journal for Educational Research, 2018, 2(1), 19-30 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojer.0201.02019s
Online Published Date: 17 July 2018

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

KEY WORDS: social origin, habitus, cultural capital, social capital, economic capital, educational choices of young people.

ABSTRACT:
The social and cultural origins of students’ families contribute to the formation of the students’ own culture through the accumulation and engraving of a system of predispositions that influence their educational success. The purpose of this study, which focuses on a review of recent sociological literature, is to explore and highlight the factors that define the choices of individuals from different social backgrounds regarding their educational future. The analysis of the research findings of the relevant scientific papers highlights the impact of socio-economic and cultural factors on the shaping of the educational choices of individuals of different social origin, bringing at the same time to the fore issues of social and educational inequalities. In particular, the social class of origin of young people, which produces its own class dispositions, the family habitus, the volume of cultural, social and economic capital that the student’s family possesses, as well as the way in which teachers, who also have their own system of predispositions within the educational institutions where they work, approach young people of different social origin tend to make a significant contribution to the choices that define the educational paths of young people.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Gerasimos Koustourakis, Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education, University of Patras, University Campus, 265.04 Rio Patras, GREECE. E-mail: koustourakis@upatras.gr.

REFERENCES:

Accardo, A. (1991). Initiation à la sociologie: l'illusionnisme social: une lecture de Bourdieu. Bordeaux: Le Mascaret.

Accardo, A., & Corcuff, P. (1986). La Sociologie de Bourdieu. Bordeaux: Le Mascaret.

Andres, L., & Looker, E. D. (2001). Rurality and capital: Educational expectations and attainments of rural, urban/rural, and metropolitan youth. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 31(2), 1-45.

Archer, A. (2002). Change, culture and tradition: British Muslim pupils talk about Muslim girls’ post-16 “choices”. Race Ethnicity and Education, 5(4), 359-376.

Archer, L., Halsall, A., & Hollingworth, S. (2007). Class, gender, (hetero)sexuality and schooling: Paradoxes within working-class girls’ engagement with education and post-16 aspirations. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(2), 165-180.

Aries, E., & Seider, M. (2005). The interactive relationship between class identity and the college experience: The case of lower income students. Qualitative Sociology, 28(4), 419-443.

Asimaki, A., & Koustourakis, G. (2014). Habitus: An attempt at a thorough analysis of a controversial concept in Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice. Social Sciences, 3(4), 121-131.

Azaola, M. C. (2012). Revisiting Bourdieu: Alternative educational systems in the light of the theory of social and cultural reproduction. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 22(2), 81-95.

Baker, S., & Brown, B. (2007). Images of excellence: constructions of institutional prestige and reflections in the university choice process. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(3), 377-391.

Ball, S. J., Davies, J., David, M., & Reay, D. (2002). “Classification” and “Judgement”: Social class and the “cognitive structures” of choice of Higher Education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 23(1), 51-72.

Ball, S. J., Reay, D., & David, M. (2002). “Ethnic Choosing”: Minority ethnic students, social class and higher education choice. Race Ethnicity and Education, 5(4), 333-357.

Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice (R. Nice, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bourdieu, P. (1979). La distinction. Critique sociale du jugement. Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit.

Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In: J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). New York: Greenwood Press.

Bourdieu, P. (1987). Choses dites. Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit.

Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice (R. Nice, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Bourdieu, P. (1993). Sociology in question. London: Sage.

Bourdieu, P. (1994). Texts of Sociology. Athens: Delfini.

Bourdieu, P. (2006). The sense of practice. Athens: Alexandria.

Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J.-C. (1970). La reproduction. Éléments pour une théorie du système d'enseignement.Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit.

Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J.-C. (1990). Reproduction in education, society and culture.London: Sage.

Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J.-C. (1996). The inheritors: Students and their culture. Athens: Institute of Book A. Kardamitsa.

Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Chakhaia, L., Andguladze, N., Janelidze, A., & Pruidze, N. (2014). Identities, cultural capital, educational choices and post-communist transition: an ethnographic study of Georgian youth. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 14(2), 301-318.

Corcuff, P. (2007). Les nouvelles sociologies. Paris: Armand Colin.

Crozier, G., Reay, R., Clayton, J., Colliander, L., & Grinstead, J. (2008). Different strokes for different folks: diverse students in diverse institutions – Experiences of higher education. Research Papers in Education, 23(2), 167-177.

David, M. E., Ball, S. J., Davies, J., & Reay, D. (2003).  Gender issues in parental involvement in student choices of higher education. Gender and Education, 15(1), 21-36.

Devine, D. (2009). Mobilizing capitals? Migrant children’s negotiation of their everyday lives in school. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(5), 521-535.

Du Bois-Reymond, M. (1998). “I don’t want to commit myself yet”: Young people’s life concepts. Journal of Youth Studies, 1(1), 63-79.

Gil-Flores, J., Padilla-Carmona, M. T., & Suárez-Ortega, M. (2011). Influence of gender, educational attainment and family environment on the educational aspirations of secondary school students. Educational Review, 63(3), 345-363.

Goldrick-Rab, S. (2006). Following their every move: An investigation of social-class differences in college pathways. Sociology of Education, 79(1), 61-79.

Granfield, R. (1991). Making it by faking it: Working-class students in an elite academic environment. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 20(3), 331-351.

Iannelli, C. (2007). Inequalities in entry to higher education: A comparison over time between Scotland and England and Wales. Higher Education Quarterly,61(3), 306-333.

Jæger, M. M. (2007). Educational mobility across three generations: The changing impact of parental social class, economic, cultural and social capital. European Societies, 9(4), 527-550.

Kloot, B. (2009). Exploring the value of Bourdieu’s framework in the context of institutional change. Studies in Higher Education, 34(4), 469-481.

Koustourakis, G., Asimaki, A., & Spiliopoulou, G. (2016a). Cultural capital and educational expectations of native and immigrant parents of primary school students: Qualitative study. International Journal of Sociology of Education, 5(3), 166-189.

Koustourakis, G., Spiliopoulou, G., & Asimaki, A. (2016b). The influence of a family’s cultural capital on the formation of the educational and occupational expectations of native and immigrant primary school students. Educational Journal of the University of Patras UNESCO Chair, 3(1), 8-27.

Kyridis, A. (2015). Educational inequality. Thessaloniki: Kyriakidis Bros.

Laberge, S. (1995). Toward an integration of gender into Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital. Sociology of Sport Journal, 12(2), 132-146.

Lehmann, W. (2004). “For some reason I get a little scared”: Structure, agency, and risk in school-work transitions. Journal of Youth Studies, 7(4), 379-396.

Lehmann, W. (2007a). Choosing to labour? School-work transitions and social class. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Lehmann, W. (2007b). “I just didn’t feel like I fit in”: The role of habitus in university dropout decisions. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 37(2), 89-110.

Lehmann, W. (2009a). Becoming middle class: How working-class university students draw and transgress moral class boundaries. Sociology, 43(4), 631-647.

Lehmann, W. (2009b). University as vocational education: working-class students’ expectations for university. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(2), 137-149.

Li, H. (2013). Rural students’ experiences in a Chinese elite university: capital, habitus and practices. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34(5-6), 829-847.

Machin, S., & Vignoles, A. (2004). Educational inequality: The widening socio-economic gap. Fiscal Studies,25(2), 107-128.

Maton, K. (2008). Habitus. In: M. Grenfell (Ed.), Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts (pp. 49-65). Stocksfield: Acumen.

Metcalf, H. (1997). Class and higher education: The participation of young people from lower social classes. London: CIHE.

Mills, C., & Gale, T. (2002). Schooling and the production of social inequalities: What can and should we be doing? Melbourne Studies in Education, 43(1), 107-128.

Μilonas, T. (n.d.). Social reproduction in school. Theory and experience. Athens: Armos.

Μilonas, T. (1995). Introductory insights on P. Bourdieu’s theory. In: I. Lampiri-Dimaki & N. Panagiotopoulos (Eds.), Sociology of Paedeia (pp. 76-95).Athens: Kardamitsa-Delfini.

Mullen, A. L. (2009). Elite destinations: pathways to attending an Ivy League University. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(1), 15-27.

Noble, J., & Davies, P. (2009). Cultural capital as an explanation of variation in participation in higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(5), 591-605.

Oliver, C., & Kettley, N. (2010). Gatekeepers or facilitators: the influence of teacher habitus on student's applications to elite universities. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 31(6), 737-753.

Pásztor, A. (2010). “Go, go on and higher an’ higher”. Second-generation Turks’ understanding of the role of education and their struggle through the Dutch school system. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 31(1), 59-70.

Patereka, Ch. (1986). Basic concepts of Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron. Thessaloniki: Kyriakidis Bros.

Pini, B., Price, R., & McDonald, P. (2010). Teachers and the emotional dimensions of class in resource-affected rural Australia. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 31(1), 17-30.

Pugsley, L. (1998). Throwing your brains at it: Higher education, markets and choice. International Studies in Sociology of Education,8(1), 71-90.

Quinn, J. (2004). Understanding working-class “drop-out” from higher education through a sociocultural lens: Cultural narratives and local contexts. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 14(1), 57-74.

Reay, D. (1998). Always knowing and never being sure: Familial and institutional habituses and higher education choice. Journal of Education Policy,13(4), 519-529.

Reay, D., & Ball, S. J. (1998). “Making their minds up”: Family dynamics of school choice. British Educational Research Journal,24(4), 431-448.

Reay, D., David, M., & Ball, S. (2001). Making a difference? Institutional habituses and higher education choice. Sociological Research Online, 5(4). Retrieved from http://www.socresonline.org.uk/5/4/reay.html

Reay, D., David, M. E., & Ball, S. (2005). Degrees of choice. Social class, race and gender in higher education. Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham Books.

Sianou-Kyrgiou, E.  (2006). Education and social inequalities – The transition from Secondary to Higher Education (1997 – 2004). Athens: Metaixmio.

Sianou‐Kyrgiou, E. (2008). Social class and access to higher education in Greece: supportive preparation lessons and success in national exams. International Studies inSociology of Education, 18(3-4), 173-183.

Sianou-Kyrgiou, E. (2010). Stratification in higher education, choice and social inequalities in Greece. Higher Education Quarterly, 64(1), 22-40.

Sianou-Kyrgiou, E., & Tsiplakides, I. (2009). Choice and social class of medical school students in Greece. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(6), 727-740.

Sianou‐Kyrgiou, E., & Tsiplakides, I. (2011). Similar performance, but different choices: social class and higher education choice in Greece. Studies in Higher Education, 36(1), 89-102.

Smith, W., & Tinning, R. (2011). It’s not about logic, it’s about logics of practice: a case study of teacher education reform in New Zealand. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39(3), 235-246.

Spiliopoulou, G., Koustourakis, G., & Asimaki, A. (2017). Family “capital” and young people’s educational-occupational choices in the context of a review of recent sociological literature. Open Journal for Sociological Studies, 1(1), 15-26.

Tavares, D., Tavares, O., Justino, E., & Amaral, A. (2008). Students’ preferences and needs in Portuguese higher education. European Journal of Education,43(1), 107-122.

Thompson, R. (2009). Social class and participation in further education: Evidence from the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(1), 29-42.

Vryonides, M. (2003). Social capital in a historic context of modernization: its effects on Cypriot educational choice-making. Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies,8(2), 35-58.

Vryonides, M. (2007). Social and cultural capital in educational research: Issues of operationalisation and measurement. British Educational Research Journal 33(6), 867-885.

Wakeling, P. (2005). La noblesse d’ état anglaise? Social class and progression to postgraduate. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 26(4), 505-522.

Waters, J., & Brooks, R. (2010). Accidental achievers? International higher education, class reproduction and privilege in the experiences of UK students overseas. BritishJournalofSociologyofEducation, 31(2), 217-228.

Watson, J. (2013). Profitable portfolios: Capital that counts in higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34(3), 412-430.

© Center for Open Access in Science