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Field-Specific Cultural Capital And Persistence In College Majors, Ned William Tilbrook, Dara Shifrer
Field-Specific Cultural Capital And Persistence In College Majors, Ned William Tilbrook, Dara Shifrer
Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations
We investigate the possibility that Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital, ways of being that facilitate assimilation to the dominant culture, is field-specific in its manifestation and intergenerational transmission. We focus on a field of central economic and academic interest: STEM. Data on around 13,000 undergraduates from the large nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 indicate that parents’ STEM-specific cultural capital positively contributes to youth’s selection of and persistence in STEM majors in the form of parents’ STEM education. We find that transmission is enacted through youths’ field-specific institutionalized cultural capital (e.g., STEM grades and test scores), field-specific embodied …
Disability At The Intersections, Dara Shifrer, Angela Frederick
Disability At The Intersections, Dara Shifrer, Angela Frederick
Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations
Complete and accurate understandings of stratification depend on more regular consideration of disability. To build sociologists’ recognition of disability as a socially constructed axis of stratification, we first demonstrate the construction of the disability category through classic legitimating processes: moral attributions, biological attributions, separation, and dichotomization. Expanding understandings of basic processes of stratification, we then document the centrality of disability in the social construction of class, race, gender, sexual orientation, and age. Finally, we show various ways disability functions as an axis of stratification in intersection with other key axes of stratification.
Clarifying The Social Roots Of The Disproportionate Classification Of Racial Minorities And Males With Learning Disabilities, Dara Shifrer
Clarifying The Social Roots Of The Disproportionate Classification Of Racial Minorities And Males With Learning Disabilities, Dara Shifrer
Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations
The disproportionate placement of racial minorities and males into special education for learning disabilities (LDs) raises concerns that classifications occur inaccurately or inequitably. This study uses data from the Education Longitudinal Survey of 2002 to investigate the social etiology of LD classifications that persist into adolescence. Findings suggest the overclassification of racial minorities is largely consistent with (clinically relevant) differences in educational performance. Classifications may occur inconsistently or subjectively, with clinically irrelevant qualities like school characteristics and linguistic-immigration history independently predictive of disability classification. Finally, classifications may be partially biased, with male overclassification largely unexplained by this study’s measures and …
Region-Urbanicity Differences In Locus Of Control: Social Disadvantage, Structure, Or Cultural Exceptionalism?, Dara Shifrer, April Sutton
Region-Urbanicity Differences In Locus Of Control: Social Disadvantage, Structure, Or Cultural Exceptionalism?, Dara Shifrer, April Sutton
Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations
People with internal rather than external locus of control experience better outcomes in multiple domains. Previous studies on spatial differences in control within America only focused on the South, relied on aggregate level data or historical evidence, or did not account for other confounding regional distinctions (such as variation in urbanicity). Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, we find differences in adolescents' loci of control depending on their region and urbanicity are largely attributable to differences in their social background, and only minimally to structural differences (i.e., differences in the qualities of adolescents' schools). Differences that persist net …
Equity Or Marginalization? The High School Course-Taking Of Students Labeled With A Learning Disability, Dara Shifrer, Rebecca Callahan, Chandra Muller
Equity Or Marginalization? The High School Course-Taking Of Students Labeled With A Learning Disability, Dara Shifrer, Rebecca Callahan, Chandra Muller
Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations
Placement of some students into the courses needed only for high school graduation and others into those that prepare them for college constitutes academic stratification. This study uses data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 to investigate whether students labeled with learning disabilities complete fewer academic courses by the end of high school compared to their peers who are not labeled. Results indicate large disparities in completion of college preparatory coursework, especially in math, science, and foreign language, even net of students’ academic preparation for high school and their cognitive and noncognitive skills. The evidence supports the possibility that …
Technology And Communications Coursework: Facilitating The Progression Of Students With Learning Disabilities Through High School Science And Math Coursework, Dara Shifrer, Rebecca Callahan
Technology And Communications Coursework: Facilitating The Progression Of Students With Learning Disabilities Through High School Science And Math Coursework, Dara Shifrer, Rebecca Callahan
Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations
Students identified with learning disabilities experience markedly lower levels of science and mathematics achievement than students who are not identified with a learning disability. Seemingly compounding their disadvantage, students with learning disabilities also complete more credits in non-core coursework—traditionally considered nonacademic coursework—than students who are not identified with a learning disability. The Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a large national dataset with both regular and special education high school students, is utilized to determine whether credit accumulation in certain types of non-core coursework, such as technology and communications courses, is associated with improved science and math course taking outcomes for …
Disproportionality And Learning Disabilities: Parsing Apart Race, Socioeconomic Status, And Language, Dara Shifrer, Chandra Muller, Rebecca Callahan
Disproportionality And Learning Disabilities: Parsing Apart Race, Socioeconomic Status, And Language, Dara Shifrer, Chandra Muller, Rebecca Callahan
Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations
The disproportionate identification of learning disabilities among certain sociodemographic subgroups, typically groups that are already disadvantaged, is perceived as a persistent problem within the education system. The academic and social experiences of students who are misidentified with a learning disability may be severely restricted, whereas students with a learning disability who are never identified are less likely to receive the accommodations and modifications necessary to learn at their maximum potential. The authors use the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 to describe national patterns in learning disability identification. Results indicate that sociodemographic characteristics are predictive of identification with a learning disability. …