Issues of educational inequality have been hotly debated in China ever since the higher educational reform in the late 1990s. High tuitions and the privileged access of advantaged groups are attracting more peoples concerns. This thesis examines the current status of Chinese student access to higher education in the post-reform era, and explores the urban-rural and strata differences among students with different social origins and family backgrounds. The expansion and tuition reform of Chinese higher education not only poses financing college as the biggest difficulty for those disadvantaged groups, but also perpetuates the established social hierarchy. This thesis finds that, despite the progress made in equalizing access by urban-rural and strata origins at the mass higher education era in China, disadvantaged groups remain their unfavorable status in accessing higher education, as compared to their counterparts who are economically, culturally, and socially superior. The initial quantitative access differences are gradually turning into qualitative disparities, the higher the demand for the university or/and major, the more urban and higher socioeconomic students enroll. The theories of financial, cultural, and social capital were employed in the thesis and provide a plausible explanation to the continuing disadvantaged status of poor groups. The methodology used is mainly a quantitative technique that resorts on a variety of secondary data, such as national and provincial yearbooks of educational statistics and census, large sample surveys, and case studies from previous research. The findings will have many policy implications concerning the expansion, financing, and affordability of higher education in China.

This thesis is an ethnographic examination of a local punk subculture. Its focus is the processes of meaning construction and subcultural identity formation and maintenance. Through in-depth interviews and on-site observations, the meanings of punk emerge in acts of social co-construction. An empirical analysis of the ways by which individuals define and explore what is involved and valued in a punk identity provides insight into this subculture. The concept of punk as a social practice is investigated discursively through interviews and documented discussions. My goal is to uncover thematic ideas, beliefs, and values in these interactions that form a matrix of interlocking cultural expressions, collectively creating a shared subcultural identity. As with any subculture, punk appears to be governed by a set of cultural codes and norms. The research reported here indicates that these themes are dominated primarily by knowledge displays and symbolic boundary maintenance.

This thesis examines the discursive messages and specific practices that Latino families use to transmit messages about culture, race, and racism. Scholars have not fully explored the complexity and range of practices and discourses that are involved in Latinos’ ethno-racial socialization. The use of the phrase “ethno-racial socialization” is important because it combines the concepts of racial socialization and ethnic socialization in an effort to account for how the lived experiences of Latinos who mostly think of themselves as a racial group, are treated as one race, and thus, discuss race with family members. This research explores this process using twelve in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven U.S. born children of immigrants between the ages of 18-30 and five of their parents (3 immigrant, 1 migrant, and 1 U.S. born). The immigrant families were middle-class and had at least one parent that was born in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, or Puerto Rico. To theoretically ground the project, I draw on Annette Lareau’s concepts of concerted cultivation and the accomplishment of natural growth, which are two major frames to describe how middle-class and lower-class families socialize their family members. I apply this framework to strategies of ethno-racial socialization and develop through the concepts of ethno-racial concerted cultivation and the accomplishment of natural growth, which, I argue, respectively correspond to ‘explicit’ and ‘implicit’ socialization approaches to conveying messages about culture, race, and racism. I argue that ethno-racial concerted cultivation and the accomplishment of natural growth stand in opposite ends of a continuum of approaches to instilling messages related to race and ethnicity. In some cases, the strategies can be mutually reinforcing because a practice that can be considered ethno-racial concerted cultivation can create opportunities for the accomplishment of natural growth to occur (and vice versa). Intra-familial differences in how family members socialize their children mean that they receive diverse and at times contradictory messages about culture and race from different family members such as parents and extended family members. The differences in how family members use ethno-racial socialization strategies are further heightened due to the experiences of the family member (such as their maintenance or rejection of immigrant culture and experiences with racial discrimination or lack thereof) and family structure (such as the varying messages children receive in single-parent households with extended family members living in the home, two-parent households, and households with transnational family ties). The young adults who were consistently exposed to encouraging and empowering messages that implicitly or explicitly emphasized a sense of commitment, belonging, and identity to the ethno-racial group experienced the most positive outcomes, some resulting in cultural capital, such as: racial literacy, preparation for bias, ethnic/racial identity, language skills, access to co-ethnic networks, cosmopolitanism, social flexibility, and social capital (in the form of familial capital). The young adults who did not receive consistent messages or who received messages that promoted anti-blackness or erased the importance of their immigrant family’s culture experienced some of the following outcomes: limited racial literacy, ambiguous ethno-racial identity, limited Spanish skills, limited access to co-ethnic networks, and parent-child conflict. Overall, this research illustrates how ethno-racial socialization in Latina/o families does not easily fit into one discrete model of socialization, but rather is a complex, multi-layered interplay of mechanisms that draw on both ethno-racial concerted cultivation and the accomplishment of natural growth approaches. This interplay also brings sometimes conflict due to the various and, at times, opposing messages that children receive from different family members.

Förutsättningar för inkorporation – upplevelsen av möjligheten är en studie, skriven av Hanna Öfors, som sätter fokus på invandrares upplevelse av sin möjlighet att bli en del av det svenska samhället. Detta har gjorts genom fyra djupintervjuer med invandrare som har kommit till Sverige i vuxen ålder och som kan betraktas som relativt sätt tillfredsställande fall, om deras egna upplevelser.  Studiens syfte är att teckna en bild av hur nysvenskar upplever sin inkorporationsprocess och möjlighet till delaktighet i det svenska samhället.  Dessutom är studiens strävan att identifiera vilka komponenter som är av betydelse för en upplevelse av delaktighet respektive utanförskap. Den teoretiska referensram som studien utgår ifrån innefattar dels kapitalteori med särskilt fokus på socialt kapital, och dels av teorier om delaktighet och utanförskap samt identitet, vilket har infogats som komplement till dig förstnämnda. Den tidigare forskning som presenteras lyfter fram äktenskap och samboskap som positivt för inkorporationen. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att det är viktigt att individen har ett högt socialt kapital inom minst ett fält för att hen ska kunna känna delaktighet och tillhörighet i det svenska samhället.  Att ha ett arbete lyfts av flera informanter fram som extra viktigt för denna möjlighet.  Vidare visar resultatet också, vilket understöds av tidigare forskning, att en relation, såsom äktenskapet, innebär ett ökat socialt kapital och därmed ökad möjlighet till delaktighet och tillhörighet i det svenska samhället. Genom att ta reda på vad som förutsätts för att en inkorporationsprocess skall upplevas som tillfredsställande skulle det kunna bli möjligt att påverka diskursen kring invandring och inkorporation i en positiv och mer gynnsam riktning för de individer som framgent kommer till Sverige. / Conditions for incorporation – experience of possibility is a study written by Hanna Öfors. It focuses on immigrants and their experience of the possibility to be included as a part of the Swedish society. This is done, by interviewing four people who moved too Sweden as grownups and whom, relatively speaking, could be looked at as cases of satisfying incorporation,   about their experiences of incorporation. The purpose of this study is to investigate and understand how immigrants look at their incorporation process and the degree to which it is possible for them to be a part of the Swedish society. Moreover, it is meant to identify the components that are important for them to feel included in or excluded from the Swedish society.  The frame of reference that this study is based on is built on three components, capital theory, concentrated on social capital, and theories about participation, alienation and identity. The three latest terms has added as a complement to capital theory. Recent research says that partnership and marriage has a positive effect on incorporation.    The results show that an individual ought to have a large amount of social capital, in at least one field, for them to feel a part of the Swedish society.  Employment is pointed out to be an extra important factor for this possibility. It is also shown that a relationship, such as marriage, leads to an increase in social capital. The same results are also proved in earlier studies.  By finding what is needed, for an incorporation process to be satisfying, it could be possible to influence the discourse around immigration and incorporation in a positive way. Hopefully this could lead to more favorable conditions for immigrants in the future.

In Central Texas, one high school (hereafter referred to as Literacy High) has attempted to help bridge the literacy gap in immigrant populations so as to more easily facilitate their success in standard classroom settings. In this high school, recent immigrants can focus extensively on English language studies so that, upon completion of the program, they can return to their neighborhood high schools with the linguistic and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1973, 1974, 1977) they need to succeed in a heterogeneous group setting. The following study focuses on second-year students from Mexico within this school. Basing itself upon Yosso's (2006a, 2006b, 2007) theory of “community cultural wealth”, this ethnographic study looks for evidence of cultural attributes held by Mexican tenth grade students that contribute positively to their English literacy development and performance in Literacy High's coursework. The study has found that, primarily, Mexican students at Literacy High are assisted in their coursework by their previously developed aspirational capital (i.e. their ability to maintain their hopes and dreams for a better future even when faced with real and perceived barriers) and navigational capital (i.e. their ability to maneuver through social institutions, in this case the educational system). These characteristics enable them to pass their classes both at Literacy High and the high schools they transfer to upon program completion. However, this high achievement in terms of grades does not necessarily translate into complete English literacy, especially oral literacy. Potential reasons for these results will be discussed, based upon observations of sampled students in Literacy High classes, interviews with these students, and interviews with all Literacy High teachers. This work will also discuss the relative merit of both formal school settings and nonprofit settings in teaching written and oral literacy. Positive exemplary case studies of nonprofit ESL programs will be compared and contrasted with the results from this case study to determine what skills are most effectively taught in either setting, and how particular practices from both nonprofit and formal school settings might be better incorporated in each to improve achievement. The work will end with recommendations for how English literacy might more effectively be taught in formal school settings like Literacy High. / text

This dissertation is about curriculum and leadership in Arizona-Mexico border community schools. Specifically, I examine intended and received language arts curricula (i.e., what content is taught, to whom, and with what pedagogy) (Porter, 2004), the misalignments between these curriculum types, and the misalignments in leadership approaches in border community schools. My dissertation draws on both classic and critical curriculum leadership studies (e.g., Hallinger, 2008; Johnson, 2006) with an emphasis on Funds of Knowledge (e.g., Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992), cultural capital (e.g., Yosso, 2005), and habitus (e.g., Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990). I utilize ethnographic and phenomenological approaches to my study of four elementary and three middle schools located in two Arizona-Mexico border communities 120 miles apart from each other. Findings suggest that children living in border communities exhibit cultural capital (Yosso, 2005) and Funds of Knowledge (Moll et al., 1992), but these strengths are not considered in the intended curricula. Participants see the culture of the border and the culture of the school as two very separate constructs, particularly in relation to curriculum. The children in the study consider this reality commonsensical. Culturally responsive curriculum leaders, though positioned to change the status quo, are compliant and helpless against the dominant standardized regime. External forces silence everything these leaders know about research and practice. My dissertation concludes with implications for research, practice, and policy to blend culturally responsive structures, pedagogy, and behaviors to the standardization movement.

Community colleges play a particularly valuable role in providing both immigrant students and international visa students the opportunity to participate in higher education at affordable rates and thereby, the means by which to achieve academic success in the university system and economic success in the market. Thus, community colleges bear the profound task of developing language skills and creating positive academic experiences for all students who are learning English.This phenomenological inquiry examines how English language learners constitute meaning from their experience of learning at a large community college in the southwest United States. The researcher conducted group and individual interviews with English language learners from 13 different countries of origin and 10 different first languages. Participants included international visa students and immigrant students.Cultural capital theory, including linguistic competence, was used to explain how the perceptions of linguistic competence affect the academic experience of different English language learners. The findings suggest that although some students may possess cultural capital that advantaged them in their home countries, without commensurate linguistic competence, academic literacy, and a new cognitive model for learning that cultural capital may not be rewarded with academic success in the United States. Additionally, the findings suggest that cultural capital theory may need to be adapted to explain how it manifests itself in this student population. A second theory, conceptual theory of metaphor, specifically Lakoff & Johnson's (1999) Event Structure Metaphor, provided a cognitive linguistic framework to the analysis of the language used by participants as they described their academic experience. Using the event structure metaphor, this analysis provides some support for the universal nature of metaphorical thought.

Cultural capital facilitators are an unexplored phenomenon in the higher education literature despite their crucial presence on community college campuses. Through the use of social capital theory, social networks, and cultural capital theory, this study explores the role that cultural capital facilitators play in first-generation, community college student information acquisition and ultimate success. Multiple qualitative methods are utilized to discover the cultural capital facilitator characteristics and attributes, social networks and types of cultural capital information shared between first-generation students and cultural capital facilitators. Implications for community college practitioners are also presented in terms of the role that classroom instructors play as cultural capital facilitators as well as the characteristics and attributes that these individuals can acquire through professional development opportunities. Finally, the interconnectedness of cultural capital facilitators' social networks and the domination of academic, cultural capital information are elaborated on for community college personnel in their examination of structural and functional barriers to first-generation student success.

Šiame magistriniame darbe dėmesys bus skiriamas akademiniam jaunimui (studentams). Tyrimo metu išsiaiškinsime, kokį kultūrinį kapitalą turi sukaupę humanitarinių ir socialinių mokslų studentai, kokiai kultūrai jie atstovauja – elitinei („aukštajai“), masinei ar populiariajai („žemajai“) kultūrai. Šiame darbe ketinama nagrinėti jų kultūrinį kapitalą (pagal P. Bourdieu suklasifikuotą) trimis formomis: įsikūnijusiu, objektyviu ir institucionalizuotu pavidalu. / Most consideration in this master will be given to the academic youth (students). During the research we will find out what sort of cultural capital is present among students of art sciences and students of social sciences. Also, we will find out which type of culture they belong to – elite or the popular type of culture. In this master the cultural capital will be analyzed sustaining P. Bourdieu’s classification. P. Bourdieu distinguishes three forms of cultural capital: incarnated, objective, and institutional.

Tobacco smoking in Canada has decreased over the last 20 years but remains persistent in lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups. The current study is an examination of tobacco smoking among lower SES Canadians that seeks to explore the social context of tobacco smoking from the perspective of those individuals who participate in it. This study utilized in-depth interviews with nine working class males from the Greater Vancouver and the Capital Regional Districts. It followed the phenomenological method in attempting to understand the experience of a working class smoker, reading that analysis through a Bourdieusian conceptual framework. This framework served to define the social context in terms of multiple symbolic economies bounded by symbolic boundaries, providing a coherent geography within which to locate the experiences. The study finds that within the working class symbolic economy, tobacco smoking is seen as legitimate and is enmeshed within conceptions of leisure, of self and intimately tied to other culturally-mediated commodities such as alcohol and other drugs. The findings further indicate that tobacco smoking in and of itself is not a cultural capital, but becomes culturally relevant when it is performed correctly. Correct performance requires adherence to certain rules, however, the best performance of smoking is done when it is presented as natural. Tobacco smoking, the findings indicate, is so “taken-for-granted” that unless one is a committed, ‘real’ smoker all others, social smokers included, are considered non-smokers. Through sharing and semi-ritualized consumption, tobacco smoking helps to reinforce reciprocal relationships that strengthen potentially insecure social bonds. Finally, working class males present themselves as self-reliant individuals that find cessation aids and therapies to be an embarrassment to their conception of self, thus to use cessation aids is to admit failure. The implication of these findings is that tobacco persistence exists within a classed symbolic economy that is simply not reached by current tobacco cessation programs and health research. To be effective then, such programs need to take into account the value and role tobacco smoking plays within this economy. / Graduate