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Beyond a binary model of students' educational decision-making

Beyond a binary model of students' educational decision-making
Beyond a binary model of students' educational decision-making
This paper's focus is on young people's university decision-making processes. It offers two key arguments in response to the model of decision-making which predominates in the classed practices literature. Firstly, that the dominant decision-making model obscures the extent of variation within the middle-class; and secondly, that commonly articulated notions of 'certainty and entitlement' need to be deconstructed to render them sociologically meaningful. I argue that the model developed by Stephen Ball, Diane Reay and colleagues had established itself as a key influence in the field, and indeed, it continues to provide a reference for those exploring student decision-making as a classed practice. In having drawn from Bourdieu's conceptual framework their account of educational practices takes us some distance beyond the labels and boxes of class analysis. My findings intersect and contrast with what has become a binary model of working-class disadvantage versus middle-class privilege. The narratives presented in this paper contribute to, but in many ways challenge what has become an influential and pervasive model of student choice
1360-7804
Davey, Gayna
688b1d43-7c50-4edb-a893-7f7f0a05e249
Davey, Gayna
688b1d43-7c50-4edb-a893-7f7f0a05e249

Davey, Gayna (2012) Beyond a binary model of students' educational decision-making. Sociological Research Online, 17 (3). (doi:10.5153/sro.2585).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper's focus is on young people's university decision-making processes. It offers two key arguments in response to the model of decision-making which predominates in the classed practices literature. Firstly, that the dominant decision-making model obscures the extent of variation within the middle-class; and secondly, that commonly articulated notions of 'certainty and entitlement' need to be deconstructed to render them sociologically meaningful. I argue that the model developed by Stephen Ball, Diane Reay and colleagues had established itself as a key influence in the field, and indeed, it continues to provide a reference for those exploring student decision-making as a classed practice. In having drawn from Bourdieu's conceptual framework their account of educational practices takes us some distance beyond the labels and boxes of class analysis. My findings intersect and contrast with what has become a binary model of working-class disadvantage versus middle-class privilege. The narratives presented in this paper contribute to, but in many ways challenge what has become an influential and pervasive model of student choice

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More information

Published date: 31 August 2012
Organisations: Southampton Education School

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Local EPrints ID: 351045
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/351045
ISSN: 1360-7804
PURE UUID: e814f0f2-6448-4e8c-aa5e-b922873dbcf2

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Date deposited: 15 Apr 2013 10:15
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 13:35

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Author: Gayna Davey

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