Class Counts: Exploring Differences in Academic and Social Integration between Working-Class and Middle/Upper-Class Students at Large,Public Research Universities
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online August, 2013
Class Counts: Exploring Differences in Academic and Social Integration between Working-Class and Middle/Upper-Class Students at Large,Public Research Universities
This multi-institutional study examines differences between working-class and middle/upper-class students at large, public research universities. Significant differences in factors related to working-class students' social integration (including satisfaction, campus climate, and sense of belonging) and academic integration (including collaborative work with peers, academic involvement and initiative, and time spent employed or in academic activities), in addition to students' perceived obstacles to academic success, were found through non-parametric bootstrapping. Using Tinto's (1993) theory of student departure as a framework, it is hypothesized that these differences may negatively impact working-class students' persistence and retention.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbesE. S.JonesS. R. & McEwenM. K. (2007). Reconceptualizing the model of multiple dimensions of identity: The role of meaning-making capacity in the construction of multiple identities. Journal of College Student Development, 48, 1–22.
2.
Association for American Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE). (2010). 2009–2010 Comparative Retention and Graduation Study.
3.
AlfordS. M. (1998). The impact of inner-city values on student social adjustment in commuter colleges. NASPA Journal, 35, 225–233.
4.
ArcherL.PrattS. D. & PhillipsD. (2001). Working-class men's constructions of masculinity and negotiations of (non)participation in higher education. Gender and Education, 13, 431–449.
5.
AstinA. W. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
6.
AstinA. W. & OsegueraL. (2005). Pre-college and institutional influences on degree attainment. In SeidmanA., College student retention: Formula for student success (pp. 245–276). Westport, CT: American Council on Education and Praeger Publishers.
7.
BarrattW. (2007, April 25). Talking about social class on campus. NASPA's Net Results. Retrieved January 16, 2011, from www.naspa.org/netresults.
8.
BeaganB. L. (2005). Everyday classism in medical school: Experiencing marginality and resistance. Medical Education, 39, 777–784.
9.
BeanJ. P. (1980). Dropout and turnover: The synthesis and test of a causal model of student attrition. Research in Higher Education, 12, 155–187.
10.
BeanJ. P. & MetznerB. S. (1985). A conceptual model of nontraditional undergraduate student attrition. Review of Educational Research, 55, 485–540.
11.
BeeghleyL. (2005). The structure of social stratification in the United States. Boston, MA: Pearson.
12.
BergerJ. B. (2000). Optimizing capital, social reproduction, and undergraduate persistence: A sociological perspective. In BraxtonJ. M. (Ed.), Reworking the student departure puzzle (pp. 95–124). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
13.
BersT. H. & SmithK. E. (1991). Persistence of community college students: The influence of student intent and academic and social integration. Research in Higher Education, 32, 539–556.
14.
BourdieuP. (1986). The forms of capital. In RichardsonJ. (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
15.
BourdieuP. (1998). Practical reason—On the theory of action. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
16.
BorregoS. (2001). Social class in the academy. About Campus, 6(5), 31–32.
17.
BowlesS.GintisH. & GrovesM. O. (2005). Unequal chances: Family background and economic success. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
18.
BraxtonJ. M.MilemJ. F. & SullivanA. S. (2000). The influence of active learning on the college student departure process: Toward a revision of Tinto's theory. The Journal of Higher Education, 71, 569–590.
19.
BrookfieldS. & PreskillS. (1999). Discussion as a way of teaching: Tools and techniques for democratic classrooms. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
20.
ButinD. W. (2006). The limits of service-learning in higher education. The Review of Higher Education, 29, 473–498.
21.
CentersR. (1949). The psychology of social classes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
22.
ChapmanD. W. & PascarellaE. T. (1983). Predictors of academic and social integration of college students. Research in Higher Education, 19, 295–322.
23.
ChatmanS. (2009). Factor structure and reliability of the 2009 SERU/UCUES questionnaire core. Berkeley, CA: University of California-Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education.
24.
ChickeringA.W. & ReisserL. (1993). Education and identity(2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
25.
CohenP. & HaddockL. (1994). Anansi meets Spiderwoman: Curriculum resources for tackling common-sense racism in pupil cultures. London, UK: British Film Institute.
26.
CohenS. & WillsT. H. (1985). Social support and health. New York, NY: Academic Press.
27.
CookeR.BarkhamM.AudinK.BradleyM. & DavyJ. (2004). How social class differences affect students' experience of university. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28, 407–421.
28.
DavisonA. & HinkleyD. V. (1997). Bootstrap methods and their application. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
29.
EhrenbergR. G. & ShermanD. R. (1987). Employment while in college, academic achievement, and postcollege outcomes: A summary of results. The Journal of Human Resources, 22, 1–23.
30.
EvansN. J.ForneyD. S.GuidoF. M.PattonL. D. & RennK. A. (2010). Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice(2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
31.
FieldA. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS(3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
32.
General Social Survey. (2006). Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago.
33.
Goldrick-RabS. (2006). Following their every move: An investigation of social-class differences in college pathways. Sociology of Education, 79, 61–79.
34.
GoldthorpeJ. H.LlewellynC. & PayneC. (1987). Social mobility and class structure in modern Britain. New York, NY: Clarendon Press.
35.
GosM. W. (1995). Overcoming social class markers: Preparing working class students for college. The Clearing House, 69, 30–34.
36.
GreenA. (2003). Learning to tell stories: Social class, narratives, and pedagogy. Modern Language Studies, 33(1/2), 80–89.
37.
GreenwaldR. A. & GrantE. A. (1999). Border crossings: Working-class encounters in higher education. In LinkonS. L. (Ed.), Teaching working class (pp. 28–38). Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
38.
HagertyB. M.WilliamsR. A.CoyneJ. C. & EarlyM. R. (1996). Sense of belonging and indicators of social and psychological functioning. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 10, 235–244.
39.
HosslerD.SchmitJ. & VesperN. (1999). Going to college: How social, economic, and educational factors influence the decisions students make. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
40.
HurstA. L. (2010). The burden of academic success: Loyalists, renegades, and double agents. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.
41.
HurtadoS. & CarterD. F. (1997). Effects of college transition and perceptions of the campus racial climate on Latino college students' sense of belonging. Sociology of Education, 70, 324–345.
42.
JackmanM. R. (1979). The subjective meaning of social class identification in the United States. Public Opinion Quarterly, 43, 444–462.
43.
JehangirR. R. (2010). Higher education and first-generation students: Cultivating community, voice, and place for the new majority. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
44.
JensenB. (2004). Across the great divide: Crossing classes and clashing cultures. In ZweigM. (Ed.), What's class got to do with it? (pp. 168–184). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
45.
JonesS. J. (1998). Subjectivity and class consciousness: The development of class identity. Journal of Adult Development, 5, 145–162.
46.
KadisonR. & DiGeronimoT. F. (2004). College of the overwhelmed: The campus mental health crisis and what to do about it. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
47.
KahlenbergR. D. (2004). America's untapped resource: Low-income students in higher education. New York, NY: The Century Foundation Press.
48.
KarabelJ. & AstinA. W. (1975). Social class, academic ability, and college “quality.”Social Forces, 53, 381–398.
49.
KarpD. (1986). “You can take the boy out of Dorchester, but you can't take Dorchester out of the boy”: Toward a social psychology of mobility. Symbolic Interaction, 9, 19–36.
50.
KaufmanP. (2003). Learning to not labor: How working-class individuals construct middle-class identities. The Sociological Quarterly, 44, 481–504.
51.
KuhG. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
52.
KuhG. D. (2009). What student affairs professionals need to know about student engagement. Journal of College Student Development, 50, 683–706.
53.
KuhG. D.KinzieJ.SchuhJ.WhittE.& Associates. (2005). Student success in college. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
54.
LanghoutR. D.RosselliF. & FeinsteinJ. (2007). Assessing classism in academic settings. The Review of Higher Education, 30, 145–184.
55.
LangstonD. (1993). Who am I now? The politics of class identity. In TokarczykM. M. & FayE. A. (Eds.), Working-class women in the academy. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
56.
LardnerE. & MalnarichG. (2008). A new era in learning: Why the pedagogy of intentional integration matters. Change, 40(4), 30–37.
57.
LippincottJ. A. & LippincottR. B. (2007). Special populations in college counseling: A handbook for mental health professionals. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
58.
Longwell-GriceR. & Longwell-GriceH. (2007). Testing Tinto: How do retention theories work for first-generation, working-class students?Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 9, 407–420.
59.
MantsiosG. (2004). Class in America: Myths and realities—2003. In RothenbergP. S. (Ed.), Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study (6th ed.; pp. 193–207). New York, NY: Worth.
60.
MartinezJ. A.SherK. J.KrullJ. L. & WoodP. K. (2009). Blue-collar scholars? Mediators and moderators of university attrition in first generation college students. Journal of College Student Development, 50, 87–103.
61.
McLarenP. & FarahmandpurR. (2005). Teaching against globalization and the new imperialism: Toward a revolutionary pedagogy. In McLarenP. & ComanerosC. Y. (Eds.), Red seminars: Radical excursions into educational theory, cultural politics, and pedagogy. New York, NY: Hampton Press.
62.
MegivernD. (2003). Not by myself alone: Upward bound with family and friends. In AdairV. C. & DahlbergS. L. (Eds.), Reclaiming class. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
63.
MilnerA. (1999). Core cultural concepts: Class. London, UK: Sage.
64.
MuzzatiS. L. & SamarcoC. V. (Eds.) (2006). Reflections from the wrong side of the tracks: Class, identity, and the working class experience in academe. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
NoraA. (2001). The depiction of significant others in Tinto's “rights of passage”: A reconceptualization of the influence of family and community in the persistence process. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 31, 41–56.
67.
OldfieldK. & JohnsonR. G. (2008). Resilience: Queer professors from the working class. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
68.
OstranderS. A. (1984). Women of the upper class. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
69.
OstroveJ. M. (2003). Privileging class: Toward a critical psychology of social class in the context of education. Journal of Social Class Issues, 59, 677–692.
70.
OstroveJ. M. & LongS. M. (2007). Social class and belonging: Implications for college adjustment. The Review of Higher Education, 30, 363–389.
71.
ParkinF. (1971). Class inequality and political order. New York, NY: Praeger.
72.
PascarellaE. T. & ChapmanD. W. (1983). A multiinstitutional, path analytic validation of Tinto's model of college withdrawal. American Educational Research Journal, 20, 87–102.
73.
PascarellaE. T.PiersonC. T.WolniakG. C. & TerenziniP. T. (2004). First-generation college students: Additional evidence on college experiences and outcomes. The Journal of Higher Education, 75, 249–284.
74.
PascarellaE. T. & TerenziniP. T. (1977). Patterns of student-faculty informal interaction beyond the classroom and voluntary freshman attrition. Journal of Higher Education, 48, 540–552.
75.
PascarellaE. T. & WolfleL. M. (1985). Persistence in higher education: A nine-year test of a theoretical model. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
76.
PearceJ.DownB. & MooreE. (2008). Social class, identity, and the “good” student: Negotiating university culture. Australian Journal of Education, 52, 257–271.
77.
RodriquezR. (1982). Hunger of memory: The education of Richard Rodriquez: An autobiography. New York: Bantam Books.
78.
RyanJ. & SackreyC. (1984). Strangers in paradise: Academics from the working class. Boston, MA: South End Press.
79.
SaldanaD. H. (1994). Acculturative stress: Minority status and distress. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 16, 116–128.
80.
SargentJ.WilliamsR. A.HagertyB.Lynch-SauerJ. & HoyleK. (2002). Sense of belonging as a buffer against depressive symptoms. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 8, 120–129.
81.
SchwartzJ. C.DonovanJ. & Guido-DiBritoF. (2009). Stories of social class: Self-identified Mexican male college students crack the silence. Journal of College Student Development, 50, 50–66.
82.
ShorI. (2005). Why teach about social class?Teaching English in the Two Year College, 33, 161–170.
83.
SoriaK. M. (2012). Creating a successful transition for working-class first-year students. The Journal of College Orientation and Transition, 20(1), 44–55.
84.
SmithB. L.MacGregorJ.MatthewsR. S. & GabelnickF. (2004). Learning communities: Reforming undergraduate education. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
85.
TintoV. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition(2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
86.
TintoV. (1997). Colleges as communities: Exploring the education character of student persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 68(6), 599–623.
87.
TokarczykM. M. (2004). Promises to keep: Working class students and higher education. In ZweigM. (Ed.). What's class got to do with it? American society in the twenty-first century. (pp. 161–168). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
88.
TownsendB. K. & WilsonK. B. (2008). The academic and social integration of persisting community college transfer students. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 10, 405–423.
89.
TovarE.SimonM. A. & LeeH. B. (2009). Development and validation of the college mattering inventory with diverse urban college students. Measurement & Evaluation in Counseling & Development, 42, 154–178.
90.
Van GalenJ. A. & DempseyV. O. (Eds.). (2009). Trajectories: The social and educational mobility of education scholars from poor and working class backgrounds. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
91.
WalpoleM. (2003). Socioeconomic status and college: How SES affects college experiences and outcomes. The Review of Higher Education, 27, 45–73.
92.
WolffR. P. (1969). The ideal of the university. Boston, MA: Beacon.
93.
ZweigM. (2000). The working class majority: America's best kept secret. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press/Cornell University Press.
