'Who Is Anybody to Judge?' Educational Resistance through Recognition
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| Title: | 'Who Is Anybody to Judge?' Educational Resistance through Recognition |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Christina Ciocca Eller (ORCID |
| Source: | Sociology of Education. 2026 99(2):174-194. |
| Availability: | SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 21 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Higher Education, Educational Practices, Resistance (Psychology), College Students, Dropouts, Equal Education, Student Attitudes, Attribution Theory, Moral Values, Failure, Stereotypes |
| DOI: | 10.1177/00380407261419106 |
| ISSN: | 0038-0407 1939-8573 |
| Abstract: | The United States is a "schooled society": one where formal education is viewed as a primary conduit between American cultural ideals and people's moral worth and social value. Sociologists of education have described resistance against this dominant model through disinvestment from school, particularly among some students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. Yet it remains unclear if "school-invested" students also enact resistance and if so, what such resistance entails and means for educational and social inequality. Bringing together the literatures on recognition and educational resistance, we argue that recognition of stigmatized educational groups by school-invested students may serve as an important form of educational resistance. We build this argument by drawing on unique multiwave interview data (n = 168) to investigate college students' perceptions of college dropouts. We find that although a minority of respondents discursively deploy stigmatizing frames when describing dropouts, more draw on recognition frames to bridge moral and symbolic gaps between college students and particular dropouts. We also find that certain college experiences, particularly exposure to peers with complicated college trajectories, appear to change students' narratives on dropout over time. We consider the implications of recognition-based resistance and the associated opportunities and limitations concerning inequality. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1502142 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | The United States is a "schooled society": one where formal education is viewed as a primary conduit between American cultural ideals and people's moral worth and social value. Sociologists of education have described resistance against this dominant model through disinvestment from school, particularly among some students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. Yet it remains unclear if "school-invested" students also enact resistance and if so, what such resistance entails and means for educational and social inequality. Bringing together the literatures on recognition and educational resistance, we argue that recognition of stigmatized educational groups by school-invested students may serve as an important form of educational resistance. We build this argument by drawing on unique multiwave interview data (n = 168) to investigate college students' perceptions of college dropouts. We find that although a minority of respondents discursively deploy stigmatizing frames when describing dropouts, more draw on recognition frames to bridge moral and symbolic gaps between college students and particular dropouts. We also find that certain college experiences, particularly exposure to peers with complicated college trajectories, appear to change students' narratives on dropout over time. We consider the implications of recognition-based resistance and the associated opportunities and limitations concerning inequality. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0038-0407 1939-8573 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/00380407261419106 |
