scholarly journals Accounting for unequal access to higher education: The role of social identity factors

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlon Nieuwenhuis ◽  
Antony S. R. Manstead ◽  
Matthew J. Easterbrook
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Selective Universities ◽  
Relevant Role ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Fitting In

Western societies stress the potential for anyone, irrespective of social background, to improve their position within society. However, disadvantaged students face barriers in gaining a good education. Two studies in secondary schools show how perceptions of identity compatibility and anticipated fit influence students’ university choices. It was found that relatively disadvantaged students scored lower on identity compatibility, and that low scores on identity compatibility were associated with lower anticipated fit at a local selective (Study 1) or highly selective (Study 2) university. Anticipated fit, in turn, predicted the type of university to which participants wanted to apply; those who anticipated fitting in more at selective universities were more likely to apply to higher status universities. These relations were significant while controlling for academic achievement. Together, these studies suggest that social identity factors play a relevant role in explaining higher education choices among low-status group members.

Organic Leadership Style and Employee Engagement: The Mediating Effect of Social Relevance of Work in Context of Faculty Members in Higher Education

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G.P. Dang ◽  
Puneet Basur
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Operational Excellence

Leadership Style has been since long acknowledged by management scholars as being an important subject in relation to organizational executions and outcome. An effective leadership would not only be able to prevent job stress and burnout among group members, but would also be successful in enhancing the motivation and engagement of the employees. It has been widely accepted that operational excellence in an organization can only be maintained through engaged employees. In this study the researchers have strived to enhance the understanding of the complex relationship between the organic leadership style and the engagement level of the employees and to further comprehend the mediating role of social relevance of work in association of the two constructs i.e. leadership style and employee engagement, in context of faculty members in higher education sector.

scholarly journals What moderates the attainment gap? The effects of social identity incompatibility and practical incompatibility on the performance of students who are or are not Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Frings ◽  
Ilka H. Gleibs ◽  
Anne M. Ridley
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
First Year ◽  
Registry System ◽  
Attainment Gap ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Minority Ethnic

Abstract A successful journey through higher education is, for many, a once in a lifetime opportunity for social mobility. Unfortunately, one notable feature of higher education systems is that students from some backgrounds do not achieve the same academic attainments as do others. The current study tests the role of one particular set of processes: social identity (in)compatibility on academic performance. Participants were recruited at two time points from a pool of first year undergraduates at a modern London University (N = 215) of which 40.1% were classed as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME), 57.1% as non-BAME and 2.8% did not provide this information. A prospective design was employed: Alongside demographic data, measures at the start of the academic year consisted of measures of student and ethnic identity, and both practical and identity incompatibility. At the end of the academic year, average marks achieved were gained for each student from the university’s registry system. Results indicate that BAME students had equal levels of student identity to non-BAME students, but higher levels of ethnic identity. They also typically experienced higher levels of both practical and identity incompatibility. Finally, BAME students had lower attainment than did non-BAME students. Both practical and identity incompatibility appeared to moderate this effect. However, contrary to predictions, it was only under conditions of low and medium levels of incompatibility that BAME students attained lower marks than their non-BAME peers. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

scholarly journals Reconceptualising fair access to highly academically selective universities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikki Boliver ◽  
Pallavi Banerjee ◽  
Stephen Gorard ◽  
Mandy Powell
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Procedural Fairness ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Distributive Fairness ◽  
Selective Universities ◽  
The Uk ◽  
First Time ◽  
Fair Access

AbstractThe higher education regulator for England has set challenging new widening access targets requiring universities to rethink how merit is judged in admissions. Universities are being encouraged to move away from the traditional meritocratic equality of opportunity model of fair access, which holds that university places should go to the most highly qualified candidates irrespective of social background, in accordance with the principles of procedural fairness. Instead, they are being asked to move towards what we term the meritocratic equity of opportunity model, which holds that prospective students’ qualifications should be judged in light of the socioeconomic circumstances in which these were obtained to enhance distributive fairness, a practice known in the UK as contextualised admissions. In this paper, we critically discuss the theoretical underpinnings of these two competing perspectives on fair access and review the existing empirical evidence base, drawing together for the first time insights from our ESRC and Nuffield Foundation funded studies of fair access to highly academically selective universities in England. We argue that reconceptualising fair access in terms of distributive fairness rather than procedural fairness offers a more socially just set of principles on which to allocate valuable but scarce places at the most academically selective universities in England, unless or until such time as the vertical stratification of higher education institutions is reduced or eliminated entirely.

Social background of premenstrual syndrome

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (4 (72)) ◽  
Author(s):  
L. V. Pakharenko
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Premenstrual Syndrome ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Big Cities

The study involved 200 women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS). It was established that women with PMS tend to have increased number of divorces (χ2=2,37, p=0,12, OR=5,44, 95% CI 0,71-41,58, p=0,10), which is especially typical for women with neuropsychic diseases (χ2=5,99, p=0,01, OR=10,79, 95 % CI 1,36-85,47, p=0,02). Such factors as higher education (χ2=8,57, p=0,003, OR=2,67, 95 % CI 1,41-5,03, p=0,002) and intellectual occupation (χ2=4,29, p=0,04, OR=2,03, 95% CI 1,08-3,80, p=0,03) can be considered as markers of increased risk of PMS, which are most typical for neuropsychic diseases. Our study did not confirm the role of smoking and living in big cities as risk factors of this neuroendocrine syndrome.

Religious Social Identity, Religious Belief, and Anti-Immigration Sentiment

2015 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAZIT BEN-NUN BLOOM ◽  
GIZEM ARIKAN ◽  
MARIE COURTEMANCHE
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Target Group ◽  
Host Society ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigrants ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Religion And Ethnicity

Somewhat paradoxically, numerous scholars in various disciplines have found that religion induces negative attitudes towards immigrants, while others find that it fuels feelings of compassion. We offer a framework that accounts for this discrepancy. Using two priming experiments conducted among American Catholics, Turkish Muslims, and Israeli Jews, we disentangle the role of religious social identity and religious belief, and differentiate among types of immigrants based on their ethnic and religious similarity to, or difference from, members of the host society. We find that religious social identity increases opposition to immigrants who are dissimilar to in-group members in religion or ethnicity, while religious belief engenders welcoming attitudes toward immigrants of the same religion and ethnicity, particularly among the less conservative devout. These results suggest that different elements of the religious experience exert distinct and even contrasting effects on immigration attitudes, manifested in both the citizenry's considerations of beliefs and identity and its sensitivity to cues regarding the religion of the target group.

Slipping Past the Test: Heterogeneous Effects of Social Background in the Context of Inconsistent Selection Mechanisms in Higher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordey Yastrebov ◽  
Yuliya Kosyakova ◽  
Dmitry Kurakin
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Alternative Pathways ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Heterogeneous Effects ◽  
Selection Mechanisms

In this article, we analyze how the existence of alternative pathways to higher education, which implies different selection mechanisms, shapes social inequality in educational attainment. We focus on the Russian educational system, in which higher education can be accessed from academic and vocational tracks, but the rules of admission to higher education from these tracks are different. Access through the academic track is highly selective due to obligatory high-stakes testing, which determines secondary-school graduates’ eligibility to pursue higher education. The vocational track is generally less selective with regard to student intake and provides less restrictive access to higher education. We argue that this system has nuanced implications for social inequality. On one hand, transitions from vocational education to higher education can promote greater social mobility by offering an affordable and low-risk gateway to higher education for children from less-advantaged families. On the other hand, more-advantaged families might use the vocational track to higher education if their children face a high risk of failure in the more selective academic track. We test this conjecture and provide supporting evidence using data from the longitudinal survey Trajectories in Education and Careers.

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