SOAN November 2017 Colloquium: "Contingent Connections: Culture and Inclusion in Higher Education"

Speaker: Blake Silver

Wednesday, November 15, 2017 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM EST
#B313

Abstract:
Social theory carves out a central place for the role of culture in generating and reproducing inequality, especially in educational settings. While research has documented the use of cultural resources in perpetuating these inequalities through exclusion, prior literature offers limited insight into how culture might be used to facilitate inclusion. Drawing on an ethnographic study of students at a large public university and interviews with 60 first-year undergraduates, I examine students’ efforts to find social inclusion on campus. The findings offer insight into: (1) the social performances students use to connect with peers, (2) the meaning students’ make of their experiences in groups, and (3) the way social resources become unequally distributed within these groups at the intersections of race and gender. By considering interactional styles alongside meaning making, this project develops an understanding of the role of culture in facilitating inclusion while also stratifying group membership.


Bio:
Blake Silver is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Virginia and a graduate of George Mason University, where he is currently an Instructor and Data Analyst in the Honors College. Blake studies culture and inequality in higher education, with a focus on race, class, and gender. As a Jefferson Fellow, his research is generously supported by the Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia.

 

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