What do you want to be when you grow up? the impact of cultural capital on the post-high school aspirations of six rural young adults

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Pamela Gazelle Hampton-Garland (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Ulrich Reitzug

Abstract: The presence, influence, and effect of embodied, objectified, and institutionalized cultural capital on rural students’ decisions to drop out of college before completing their degree was examined in this research study. Through in-depth research and analysis, the researcher sought to determine the relationship between the cultural capital of six rural young adults who pursued college immediately after high school but withdrew within their first two years of attendance. The data confirmed that a lack of dominant cultural capital influenced the decisions of all of the participants. There were areas of influence in the embodied, objectified, and institutional levels of cultural capital. For embodied cultural capital participants’ were influenced by parental expectations, low teacher expectations, and lack of community opportunities. For objectified cultural capital, personal grooming, clothing, and money were valued for the peer respect that they brought. Institutional capital was very significant because of its limited presence in each of the participants’ lives; although the participants had high school diplomas, at the time of this interview none had graduated from college or returned to pursue institutional certifications.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2009
Keywords
Cultural capital, Cultural reproduction, Embodied capital, Institutionalized capital, Objectified capital, Rural students
Subjects
College students $x Attitudes.
Social capital (Sociology)
College dropouts.
College students $x Social conditions.
School attendance.
Rural population $x Education (Higher) $z United States.

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