Abstract
In social network analysis it is social relationships rather than individuals that form the unit of analysis. A key strength of this approach is that it prevents decisions and behaviour being viewed as either individually or structurally determined. This chapter draws on research that is examining the potential of network data to help explain educational decision-making , with a specific focus on Higher Education (HE) in the United Kingdom. The study is designed to explore the ways in which ‘networks of intimacy’ (Heath and Cleaver 2003) made up of family and friends may provide a critical context within which thinking about HE is embedded and co-constructed. The following discussion represents an early attempt to explore the network of intimacy as the unit of analysis for understanding decisions about education , including the decision to participate, or not, in HE. For the purposes of this chapter, we are focusing on one network which we suggest is illustrative of (among other issues) the gendered nature of educational ‘choices ’ and transitions .
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The research is funded under the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council’s Teaching and Learning Research Programme under the title ‘Non-participation in Higher Education : decision-making as an embedded social practice’ (award number: RES 139-25-0232).
- 2.
For an excellent review of the ‘genealogy’ and development of the concept of social capital, and an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, see Schuller et al. (2000).
- 3.
- 4.
In the UK level 3 includes a variety of academic and vocational qualifications including A levels, BTEC national certificates and diplomas and National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ3).
- 5.
We are using pseudonyms to help protect confidentiality.
- 6.
It was interesting that Joanna did not suggest that having an autistic son had had a strong influence in her educational and career decision-making . There was no evidence to suggest that having a child with this condition had influenced the gendered division of labour in the family any more than having children per se. We have therefore decided not to foreground the son’s autism in this analysis of the gendered nature of decision-making in this network.
References
Archer, L., & Hutchings, M. (2000). Bettering yourself?: Discourses of risk, cost and benefit in ethnically diverse, young working class non-participants’ constructions of Higher Education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 21(4), 555–574.
Archer, L., Hutchings, M., & Ross, A. (2003). Higher Education and social class: Issues of exclusion and inclusion. London: Routledge Falmer.
Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., & Macrae, S. (2000). Choice, pathways and transitions post-16: New youth, new economies in the global city. London: Falmer.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. Newbury Park: Sage.
Beck, U., Giddens, A., & Lash, S. (1994). Reflexive modernisation: Politics, tradition and aesthetics in the modern social order. Oxford: Polity.
Bonney, N. (2007). Gender, employment and social class. Work, Employment and Society, 21(1), 142–156.
Bott, E. (1957). Family and social network. London: Tavistock.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction. London: Routledge & Kogan Paul.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Robinson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. New York: Greenwood.
Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, L. (1977). Reproduction in education, society and culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bradley, H. (1997). Fractured identities: Changing patterns of inequality. Cambridge: Polity.
Brine, J. (1999). Under educating women: Globalising inequality. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Brooks, R. (2005). Friendship and educational choice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Burke, P., & Jackson, S. (2007). Reconceptualising lifelong learning: Feminist interventions. London: Routledge.
Coleman, J. (1994). Foundations of social theory. Cambridge: Belknap.
Connidis, L., & McMullin, J. A. (2002). Sociological ambivalence and family ties: A critical perspective. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64(3), 558–567.
Crompton, R., & Mann, M. (1986). Gender and social stratification. Cambridge: Polity.
David, M. (2007). Equity and diversity: Towards a sociology of higher education for the twenty-first century? British Journal of Sociology of Education, 28(5), 675–690.
De Souza Briggs, X. (1998). Doing democracy up close: Culture, power and communication in community building. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 18, 1–13.
Department for Education and Employment. (1998). The learning age: A renaissance for a new Britain. London: Stationery Office.
Du Bois-Reymond, M. (1998). ‘I don’t want to commit myself yet’: Young people’s life concepts. Journal of Youth Studies, 1(1), 63–79.
Feinstein, L., Duckworth, K., & Sabates, R. (2004). A model of intergenerational effects of parental education. Research Brief RCB01-04. Nottingham: Department for Education and Skills.
Field, J. (2000). Lifelong learning and the new educational order. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.
Forsyth, A., & Furlong, A. (2003). Losing out? Socioeconomic disadvantage and experience in further and higher education, Policy Press pp. 1–69.
Foskett, N., & Hemsley Brown, J. (2001). Choosing futures: Young people’s decision-making in education, training and careers markets. London: Routledge Falmer.
Foskett, N., Dyke, M., & Maringe, F. (2004). The influence of the school in the decision to participate in learning post-16. Research Report RR538. Nottingham: Department for Education and Skills.
Fuller, A. (2007). Mid-life transitions to HE: Developing a multi-level explanation of increasing participation. Studies in the Education of Adults, 39(2), 217–235.
Fuller, A., & Paton, K. (2008). Widening participation in Higher Education: Mapping and investigating the stakeholder landscape. Journal of Access, Policy and Practice, 6(1), 4–20.
Fuller, A., Beck, V., & Unwin, L. (2005). The gendered nature of apprenticeship: Employers’ and young people’s perspectives. Education and Training, 47(4/5), 298–311.
Fuller, A., Johnston, B., & Heath, S. (Eds.), (2011). Rethinking widening participation in higher education: The role of social networks. London: Routledge.
Gambetta, D. (1996). Were they pushed or did they jump? Individual decision mechanisms in education. Oxford: Westview.
Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge: Polity.
Giele, J. Z., & Elder, G. (Eds.). (1998). Methods of life course research: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Gilchrist, R., Phillips, D., & Ross, A. (2003). Participation and potential participation in UK Higher Education. In L. Archer, M. Hutchings, & A. Ross (Eds.), Higher Education and social class: Issues of exclusion and inclusion. London: Routledge Falmer.
Gorard, S., & Rees, G. (2002). Creating a learning society? Bristol: Policy.
Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(4), 1350–1380.
Hakim, C. (1996). Key issues in women’s work. London: Athlone.
Hakim, C. (1998). Social change and innovation in the labour market. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Halford, S., & Leonard, P. (2006). Negotiating gendered identities at work: Place, space and time. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Heath, S., & Cleaver, E. (2003). Young, free and single: Twenty-somethings and household change. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Heath, S., & Johnston, B. (2006). Decision-making about employment and education pathways as an embedded social practice: Methodological challenges. Non-participation in HE Working Paper Series, No.1, School of Education, University of Southampton.
Heath, S., Fuller, A., & Paton, K. (2008). Network-based ambivalence and educational decision-making: a case study of ‘non-participation’ in higher education. Research Papers in Education, 23(2), 219–229.
HEFCE. (2004/34). HEFCE widening participation and fair access research strategy. Bristol: HEFCE.
Henwood, K., Griffin, C., & Phoenix, A. (1998). Introduction, In K. Henwood, C. Griffin, & A. Phoenix, (Eds.), Standpoints and differences: Essays in the practice of feminist psychology. London: Sage.
Hodkinson, P., Sparkes, A., & Hodkinson, H. (1996). Triumphs and tears: Young people, markets and the transition from school to work. London: Fulton.
Jackson, S. (2007). In search of lifelong learning: Politics, power and pedagogic challenges. Inaugural lecture, Birkbeck, University of London.
Johnston, B. (2006). Methodological Review: mapping the literature in relation to the challenges for the non-participation project, Non-participation in HE Working Paper Series, No. 4, School of Education, University of Southampton.
Johnston, B., & Heath, S. (2007). Educational decision-making as an embedded social practice: Methodological challenges and ways forward. Non-participation in HE Working Paper Series, No. 7, School of Education, University of Southampton.
Jones, R., & Thomas, L. (2005). The 2003 UK Government Higher Education White Paper: A critical assessment of its implications for the access and widening participation agenda. Journal of Education Policy, 20(5): 615–630.
Keep, E., Mayhew, K., & Payne, J. (2006). From skills revolution to productivity miracle—not as easy as it sounds? Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 22(4), 539–559.
Leathwood, C., & Francis, B. (Eds.). (2006). Gender and lifelong learning: Critical feminist engagements. London: Routledge.
Luscher, K. (1999). Ambivalence: A key concept for the study of intergenerational relations. In S. Trnka (Ed.), Family issues between gender and generations. Seminar report. Vienna: European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs.
Macleod, F., & Lambe, P. (2007). Patterns and trends in part-time adult education participation in relation to UK nation, class, place of participation, gender, age and disability, 1998–2003. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 26(4), 399–418.
Maringe, F., & Fuller, A. (2006). Widening participation in UK Higher Education: A policy overview. Non-participation in HE. Working Paper Series, No. 3, School of Education, University of Southampton.
Morris, M. (2004). Key questions—the NFER report on careers education and guidance. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Careers education advice and guidance in sheffield. Sheffield: Sheffield City Council.
Olsen, W., & Walby, S. (2004). Modelling the gender pay gap. Working Paper Series No. 17. Manchester: Equal Opportunities Commission.
Peter, K., & Horn, L. (2005). Gender differences in participation and completion of undergraduate education and how they have changed over time. Washington: National Center for Education Statistics (AWP215).
Pugsley, L. (1998). ‘Throwing your brains at it’: Higher Education, markets and choice. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 8(1), 71–92.
Putnam, R. (1996). Who killed civic America? Prospect, 1996(March), 66–72.
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse of and revival of community. New York: Schuster.
Quinn, J. (2005). Belonging in a learning community: The re-imagined university and imagined social capital. Studies in the Education of Adults, 37(1), 4–18.
Reay, D. (2003). A risky business? Mature working class women students and access to higher education. Gender and Education, 15(3), 301–317.
Reay, D., David, M., & Ball, S. (2005). Degree of choice: Social class, race and gender in Higher Education. Stoke on Trent: Trentham.
Ribbens McCarthy, J., Holland, J., & Gillies, V. (2003). Multiple perspectives on the ‘family’ lives of young people: Methodological and theoretical issues in each case study research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 6(1), 1–23.
Roberts, K. (1984). School leavers and their prospects: Youth in the labour market in the 1980s. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Ryrie, A. C. (1981). Routes and results: A study of the later years of schooling. Sevenoaks: Hodder & Stoughton.
Schuller, T., Baron, S., & Field, J. (Eds.). (2000). Social capital: Critical perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Staetsky, L. (2008). Participation in Higher Education: A review of quantitative literature. Non-participation in HE working paper. School of Education, University of Southampton.
Thomas, L., & Quinn, J. (2007). First generation entry into Higher Education: An international study. Maidenhead: SRHE and Open University Press.
Webb, S., & Warren, S. (2007). Public issues and private troubles—adult learners, ‘responsible learners’ and the new FE. Paper presented at British Educational Research Association annual conference, Institute of Education, London, September.
Woolcock, M. (1998). Social capital and economic development: Toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework. Theory and Society, 27(1), 151–208.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fuller, A., Foskett, R., Johnston, B., Paton, K. (2011). ‘Getting by’ or ‘Getting Ahead’? Gendered Educational and Career Decision-Making in Networks of Intimacy. In: Jackson, S., Malcolm, I., Thomas, K. (eds) Gendered Choices. Lifelong Learning Book Series, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0647-7_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0647-7_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0646-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0647-7
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)