Despite efforts of U.S. education institutions to encourage study abroad participation, Black and low income students are severely underrepresented compared with their White and higher income peers. Literature reveals that a combination of individual and institutional factors influences study abroad involvement; however, they fail to address how these factors work to limit the participation of interested students. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 Black and White students to investigate how they navigate the study abroad process. Cultural and social capital theories were used to understand their experiences. My findings demonstrate that for students that did not study abroad, Blacks compared to Whites encountered more difficulties when trying to activate their available resources to navigate the process. Also, non participating White students were more likely to make the conscious decision not to invest their class privileges to study abroad compared with their Black counterparts. Together, these findings suggest that race and class play a role in the activation and usage of cultural and social resources to study abroad.

Despite increased diversity noted in undergraduate education in recent years (Antonio, 2003), students from non-majority groups continue to be underrepresented in graduate school. Many research studies (Perna, 2000, 2004; Perna & Titus, 2005; Rowan-Kenyon, 2007; Walpole, 2003, 2007b) have used measures of cultural and social capital to increase the explanatory power of the traditional econometric framework in college choice models, but have not used these sociological variables as a primary focus. The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the influence of cultural capital and social capital on the decision of bachelor’s degree completers to enter graduate school and ultimately to degree achievement. The study is an extension of Perna’s 2004 work, which examined similar relationships of cultural and social capital variables via use of the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/97 study. Based on Walpole’s findings (2003), variables related to socioeconomic status (SES) were also included in my analysis. The data used to answer the research questions were collected as part of a longitudinal study, the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/03. Participants in the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/03 study were students in the U.S. who earned a bachelor’s degree during the 1992-1993 academic year, representing a population of 1.2 million individuals (Choy, Bradburn, & Carroll, 2008). My findings revealed that measures of cultural and social capital have a significant influence on graduate school enrollment and degree completion. Among low SES students (as designated by family income) cultural and social capital variables substantially increased the likelihood of graduate degree attainment.

Thesis advisor: Karen Arnold / Currently, there are nearly a million high-achieving, low-income students in the United States. In the nation's most selective institutions of higher education, students from low-income families have been persistently under-represented. Elite colleges, in particular, have only recently begun admitting low-income students in large numbers, a result of full need-based financial aid programs that began in the early 2000s as a way to attract a more socioeconomically diverse student body. This hermeneutic phenomenological study describes the lived experiences of these undergraduates and how they navigated a college environment historically reserved for wealthy students. Although participants initially expected to feel marginalized due to unfounded concerns of elitism, they formed friendships both within and across socioeconomic class divisions and described feeling integrated within the elite college. Participants developed self-protective narratives to compensate for their low-income backgrounds and employed strategies to make up for poor high-school preparation. Participants were grateful for the opportunity to attend an elite college and were proud and relatively forthcoming about their financial aid status because they considered it a reward for their intellectual ability. Three main conclusions derive from the findings of this research: Low-income students' tendency to make a distinction between socioeconomic and financial aid status; the notion of a new cultural capital hierarchy for high-achieving, low-income students within an elite college setting; and, a specific application of Bronfenbrenner's ecological developmental model for this niche population. The results of this study indicate that high-achieving, low-income students are flourishing in full need-based financial aid programs as a result of their own resilience and intellectual capital. Participants' experiences indicate that this population of undergraduates faces unique challenges and requires specific support services to equalize their opportunities vis-à-vis higher-income peers. From these findings, implications for colleges and universities and full need-based financial aid programs are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: David A. Karp / A qualitative study based on forty four in-depth interviews with undergraduates experiencing severe difficulties with academic writing, this dissertation examines how structural factors--social class and race in particular--contribute to academic "writer's block." Writing block is more than the "personal trouble" it is typically conceived of being, it is also a "public issue" with definitive structural contributors. All of my subjects perceived writing as a high stakes performance, and their writing blocks can be understood as instances of "choking" in the face of these high stakes. For many working class students, writing block is an expression of dominant cultural capital disadvantage; while for many upper middle class students, writing block represents the psychological costs of privilege. For students with unusual class-race identifications, writing block embodies their liminal social status. In the current economic climate of uncertainty, class status for students across the socioeconomic spectrum has become relatively unstable given individuals' increased risk of downward mobility. As such, academic writing blocks may be construed as angst experienced at the intersection of psychology and structure. This study contributes to and extends the literature on social reproduction in higher education as well as the literature on the price of privilege. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:52:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 KENIA RIBEIRO DA SILVA.pdf: 5710701 bytes, checksum: 49def9dacb8b19a613025f7fce3fb8da (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-30 / Despite of innumerable studies about the theme difficulty in learning and exhausting efforts, a long history of Education, to find explanations, of the causes of not being able to learn, consider it relevant, still today, to address it, considering that this subject was not yet enlightened. Once problems in learning persist and manifests in different ways in the scene of Brazilian education. This work investigates this subject expliciting the discussion of the difficulty in learning present in the pedagogical Brazilian since the Republic. Considering on an analysis this facts, the concept of learning based on a conception of Lev. Vigotsky on a cultural historic perspective, also on Bernard Chariot about knowing and the relation that the person establishes with knowing, and the explications on Philippe Meirieu about the process of elaboration of knowledge begins. Discusses also the concept of Difficulty of Learning taking as reference theoretical Pierre Bourdieu about the function the school in the capitalists societies. Throughout the empirical research made in two public schools in Goiânia and the starting from the method and the analysis the facts the present dissertation explicit as the school and theirs educators, the students and the families understand, explains and analysis the difficulty in learning and how it articulates between the cultural capital and the academic knowledge required by schools in relation on the learning of the student. The data show a pedagogical relationship between teachers and students fragile and inefficient, whose teaching practice does not contribute to realization of a meaningful learning.The school attributes the cause of learning difficulties to factors external to it, thus contributing to the reproduction of educational inequalities and hence to social inequalities. / Apesar de inumeráveis estudos sobre o tema dificuldade de aprendizagem e de exaustivos esforços, ao longo da história da Educação, para se encontrar explicações quanto às causas do não aprender, considera-se pertinente, ainda hoje, abordá-lo, por entender que tal assunto ainda não foi suficientemente esclarecido, uma vez que os problemas de aprendizagem persistem e se manifestam de diferentes modos no cenário educacional brasileiro. Este trabalho investiga tal assunto, explicitando o debate sobre a dificuldade de aprendizagem presente no discurso pedagógico brasileiro, desde a época da República. Considera-se, para a análise dos dados, o conceito de Aprendizagem na concepção de Lev. Vigotsky e de sua perspectiva histórico-cultural, os postulados de Bernard Charlot acerca do saber e da relação que o sujeito estabelece com o saber e as explicações de Philippe Meirieu para o processo de elaboração do conhecimento. Ainda como referência é considerado o conceito de Dificuldade de Aprendizagem sob uma abordagem sociológica, tomando como pressuposto teórico a formulação de Pierre Bourdieu sobre a função da escola nas sociedades capitalistas e, em especial, o seu conceito de capital cultural. Por meio da pesquisa empírica realizada em duas escolas públicas municipais de Goiânia e a partir da sistematização e da análise dos dados obtidos, a presente dissertação explicita como a escola e seus educadores, os educandos e as famílias compreendem, explicam e analisam a dificuldade de aprendizagem e, ainda, como se dá a articulação entre o capital cultural e o conhecimento acadêmico exigido pela escola em relação à aprendizagem do educando. Os dados evidenciam uma relação pedagógica entre educadores e educandos frágil e ineficiente, cuja prática pedagógica não contribui para efetivação de uma aprendizagem significativa. A escola atribui a causa da dificuldade de aprendizagem a fatores externos a ela, contribuindo, assim, para a reprodução das desigualdades educativas e, consequentemente, para as desigualdades sociais.

Esta pesquisa analisou as dinâmicas internas em torno do ingresso em uma ETEC (Escola Técnica Estadual) bem conceituada no município de Franco da Rocha na periferia da região metropolitana de São Paulo. A partir de uma análise que buscou compreender a cultura escolar desta instituição por meio de um estudo sobre características sócio-demográficas dos estudantes e de observações de caráter etnográfico do contexto escolar. A expansão do acesso ao ensino superior, o aumento da concorrência nos vestibulares, juntamente com a baixa qualidade das escolas públicas do Ensino Médio, criaram novas tendências nas estratégias de entrada dos alunos nas grandes universidades paulistas. Entre elas, estas escolas públicas diferenciadas que oferecem o curso de ensino médio, configuram-se como uma alternativa de ensino público secundário que possui as maiores notas nos exames de qualidade no ensino (ENEM) e bons resultados na aprovação de seus estudantes nos vestibulares como a FUVEST. A partir da experiência como professor de uma ETEC, esta pesquisa busca compreender as dinâmicas e os dispositivos mobilizados para o ingresso em uma destas instituições na periferia da Grande São Paulo, destacando e acompanhando as iniciativas de engajamento de professores e alunos em um cursinho pré-ETEC que acontece em uma escola pública, de maneira voluntária e acompanhando as dinâmicas desta ETEC. Nesta pesquisa podemos perceber o resultado destas iniciativas em torno do ensino médio e seu impacto social nestes grupos analisando suas trajetórias e sua dinâmica cultural interna / This research analyzed the internal dynamics around the ingress in a reputable ETEC (State Technique School) on the county of Franco da Rocha, on the outskirts of the metropolitan area of São Paulo. From an analysis that went after understanding the school culture of this institution through a study about the socio-demographic characteristics of students by ethnographic methodology. The expansion of the access to higher education, the rise of competition in acceptance exams along with the low quality of high school public institutions, created new tendencies on the strategies for the admission of students in great São Paulo universities. This differentiated public institutions that offers high school, are configured as an alternative of public secondary education that have the highest grades on education quality exams (ENEM) and good results on approvals of it\'s students on admission exams like FUVEST. From the experience as a teacher from ETEC, this research go after understanding the dynamics and mobilized devices for the entrance in one of this institutions on the outskirts of Grande São Paulo, highlighting and following the initiatives of teachers and students engagement on preparatory classes for ETEC that happens in public schools, voluntarily and following the dynamics of this ETEC. In this research we can see the result of this initiatives around the high school and its social impact in these groups analyzing their trajectories and their internal cultural dynamics

A presente dissertação de mestrado apresenta a investigação de processos que estão na origem do envolvimento de sujeitos de grupos culturais de literatura nas periferias da cidade de São Paulo. A pesquisa se concentra nos estudos sobre cultura sob a perspectiva de Pierre Bourdieu, sobretudo no que se refere à aquisição de capital cultural, com ênfase na origem social e trajetória educacional. Entre os anos 90 e início de 2000, surgiu um movimento literário específico, constituído por escritores de regiões periféricas das grandes cidades do Brasil. E a partir dos anos 2000, disseminou-se a realização de saraus em bairros periféricos de São Paulo, sendo eventos nos quais são declamadas poesias, apresentações de cenas dramáticas, grupos musicais, além de críticas sociais e manifestações políticas.O estudo de campo foi realizado em quatro saraus de diferentes regiões da cidade. Foram realizadas análises sociodemográficas dos bairros onde acontecem, considerando índices de escolaridade, renda per capita, espaços culturais etc. Por meio de questionários foi realizado um perfil do público destes eventos. E foram realizadas entrevistas com poetas/escritores, dando importância, sobretudo, às disposições que, em suas trajetórias, influenciaram suas práticas.A recente mobilização de poetas/ escritores nas periferias, historicamente excluídos por condições objetivas e subjetivas do campus literário, cultural e politicamente constituído no Brasil, resulta de um capital cultural específico, estimulado por aumento do nível de escolaridade, dentre outros processos, constituindo uma nova fração de classes que se singulariza pelo engajamento em atividades historicamente não identificadas como pertencentes ao habitus das classes populares e operárias / This dissertation presents the research processes underlying the involvement of subjects of cultural groups of literature on the outskirts of São Paulo. The research focuses on the study of culture from the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu, particularly as regards the acquisition of cultural capital, with an emphasis on social origin and educational trajectory. Between the 90s and early 2000s, there was a specific literary movement, made up of writers from outlying areas of the big cities of Brazil. And from the 2000s, spread to performing soirees in the suburbs of São Paulo, and in events which are declaimed poetry, presentations of dramatic scenes, musical groups, and social criticism and political demonstrations. The field study was conducted in four soirees of different areas of the city. Socio-demographic analysis of the neighborhoods where happen were made considering education levels, per capita income, cultural venues etc. Through questionnaires we conducted a public profile of these events. And interviews were conducted with poets / writers, giving importance mainly to provisions in their paths influenced their practices. The recent mobilization of poets / writers in the suburbs, historically excluded by objective and subjective conditions of the literary campus, culturally and politically constituted in Brazil, results from a specific cultural capital, stimulated by increasing levels of education, among other processes, forming a new fraction class that distinguishes by engaging in activities historically not identified as belonging to the habitus of popular and working classes

The practice of parent-initiated school choice in China is characterized by the involvement of substantial amounts of money, various forms of capital, the explicit government policy of banning the practice in words but accommodating it in deeds. This research investigates the school choice situation in three middle schools in Nanning, China. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of the forms of capital and cultural and social reproduction and Brown’s Positional Conflict Theory, this thesis argues that the use of cultural, social and economic capital is widespread in the school choice process. With more capital of various types available, middle class families are at a competitive advantage compared to their working class counterparts in the current struggle to gain a place in a good school. The resources of the former families enable their children to gain more cultural capital through extracurricular enrichment activities, exercise more social capital through existing guanxi1 networks and focus more economic capital with which to pay large sums for choice fees, all of which result in the greater chances of entering a desired school. The change of the school admission policy since the mid-1990s from universal entrance examination for junior middle schools to the present school place assignment by proximity has resulted in an unintentional shift from meritocracy to “parentocracy”2. School choice effectively closes out opportunities for quality education for working class families, because they lack the cultural, social and economic capital that is necessary to “work the system”. As a result, school choice tends to insure the intergenerational transmission of existing social classes and to decrease the possibility of upward mobility for the next generation. 1 A network of contacts which an individual may draw upon to secure resources or advantage in the course of social life (see 4.1.2 for detail). 2 See Brown (1990).

The thesis makes a contribution to the debate on the relationship between cultural consumption, cultural taste preferences and class. This field is well researched, but there is no consensus on the relationship between these variables. That cultural consumption is patterned by social status in society is one of the most fundamental insights of cultural sociology. Pierre Bourdieu’s Distinction: A social criticism of the taste assessment (1984) is a central work in the field. Over time, however, Bourdieu's vision has come to be questioned by various empirical findings. The questioning comes, among other findings, from Peterson's (2005) coinage of the cultural omnivore. Defining the cultural omnivore is an increased range of cultural preferences and a will to mix hierarchical cultural preference boundaries. The purpose of the thesis was to fill some of the gaps described by earlier research and seek out how the relations take shape in a Swedish student context. The questions the essay sought to answer were; how does the relationship looks between cultural consumption and class among Swedish students; how does the cultural omnivore reason about his or her wide taste preference; is distinctions among cultural omnivores present and how does it look? Through Exploratory sequential mixed-method, 10 interviews were conducted to later develop a survey that sought to generate some of the results that emerged in the interviews. The result shows that distinction seems to prevail in how cultural products are consumed rather than what is consumed. No clear links between cultural capital and consumption patterns were demonstrated in the results of the survey. The interviews however showed a strong link between cultural capital and how something is consumed, understood and appreciated. / Denna uppsats gör ett inlägg i debatten om relationen mellan kulturell konsumtion, kulturella smakpreferenser och klass. Det aktuella fältet är väl beforskat, men det råder ingen konsensus kring relationen mellan dessa variabler. Att kulturell konsumtion är mönstrat av social ställning i samhället är en av de mest grundläggande insikterna i kultursociologi. Pierre Bourdieus Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste (1984) är ett centralt verk inom fältet. Med tiden har dock Bourdieus bild kommit att ifrågasättas av olika empiriska fynd. Ifrågasättandet kommer från bland annat Petersons (2005) myntande av den kulturella allätaren (the cultural omnivore). Vad som definierar den kulturella allätaren är en ökad bredd av kulturella preferenser och en vilja att blanda hierarkiska kulturella genregränser. Syftet var att fylla några av de luckor som beskrivits av annan forskning och söka hur det ser ut i en svensk studentkontext. Frågeställningarna uppsatsen sökte besvara var; hur ser relationen ut mellan kulturell konsumtion och klass bland svenska studenter; hur resonerar den kulturella allätaren kring sin breda smakpreferens; är särskiljning (distinction) bland kulturella allätare närvarande och hur ser den i så fall ut? Genom Exploratory sequential mixed-method genomfördes 10 intervjuer för att sedan utveckla en enkät som sökte generalisera några av de resultat som framkommit i intervjuerna. Resultatet pekar på att särskiljning främst tycks råda i hur man konsumerar kulturella produkter snarare än vad man konsumerar. Inga tydliga kopplingar mellan kulturellt kapital och konsumtionsmönster påvisades i enkäten. Intervjuerna påvisade dock en stark koppling mellan kulturellt kapital och hur något konsumeras, förstås och tas in.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Nesse trabalho, investiguei o papel da arte na formaÃÃo do pedagogo. Busquei ampliar a compreensÃo do processo de formaÃÃo humana por meio das possibilidades da arte ou processo de alfabetizaÃÃo estÃtica. Nesta perspectiva, descrevi a concepÃÃo de arte na educaÃÃo nos Ãmbitos escolar e acadÃmica; a visÃo dos professores de arte do curso de Pedagogia da UFC. Em seguida, analisei entre as expectativas dos alunos do curso de Pedagogia à luz do processo de alfabetizaÃÃo estÃtica proposta pelas disciplinas de arte e seus respectivos professores, buscando um confrontamento, e verificando as possibilidades de composiÃÃo de sentidos atravÃs da arte. Descrevi tambÃm a experiÃncia de campo e o mÃtodo de investigaÃÃo em decorrÃncia do carÃter etnogrÃfico da pesquisa. Discuti como o capital cultural pode ser importante elemento de anÃlise da distribuiÃÃo dos bens culturais na educaÃÃo formal institucionalizada e sua atuaÃÃo como fator de reproduÃÃo social, tendo a mÃdia como um importante veÃculo de socializaÃÃo de determinados bens culturais. Por conseguinte, relatei o processo de formaÃÃo que se desenvolveu na disciplina SeminÃrio II Arte e EducaÃÃo na Escola, analisando as vivÃncias e as descobertas de duas estudantes do curso em uma disciplina que nÃo compÃe a grade curricular obrigatÃria. Finalmente, relacionei a experiÃncia das alunas investigadas e a proposta do curso. Espero contribuir para que os futuros educadores compreendam melhor o papel da arte em sua formaÃÃo, especificamente, a importÃncia das disciplinas que buscam trabalhar a dimensÃo estÃtica do educador. AlÃm disso, pretendo desencadear naquele curso novas discussÃes sobre a pertinÃncia do estÃtico na educaÃÃo e suas possibilidades de uma humana formaÃÃo. / In this search, I investigated the art contribution to the educatorâs upbringing. I intended to enlarge the comprehension of human formation influenced by the variety of art manifestations or throughout the aesthetic literacy process. In this perspective, I described the educational art conception in schools and academic fields and also. I pointed out the UFC teachersâ conception of the matter, focusing on the teachers from the Pedagogy Course of this institution. Then, throughout a confrontation process, I analyzed the expectations of the students from the Pedagogy Course of UFC in terms of the artistic literacy proposed by the art disciplines and their respective teachers and I also took into consideration the possibilities of meaning construction through the art. I described the field experience and the methodological path taken into an ethnographic research. I debated in which terms the cultural capital can be an important analytical element in the distribution of the cultural goods of the formal education and its repercussion as a social reproduction tool, having in mind that media is a relevant vehicle to socialize some of these cultural goods. Taking the experiences and discoveries of two students who had applied the non compulsory discipline Seminar II Art and Education in Schools, I highlighted the educatorsâ formation process in these disciplines. At last, I established a parallel between the investigated studentsâ experiences and the syllabus of the course. I hope in this search to contribute to strengthen the educatorsâ perception of the art relevance in their formation, mainly the importance of the disciplines which deals with the aesthetic dimension of the educators. Moreover, I wish to unleash in the mentioned course new debates concerning the rightness of aesthetic issue in education and its possibilities to achieve a human formation.