How do educational contexts contribute to the social class achievement gap: documenting symbolic violence from a social psychological point of view

Croizet, Jean-Claude; Goudeau, Sébastien; Marot, Medhi; Millet, Mathias

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.08.025

Cited by 41 publications

(47 citation statements)

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“…2 A basic tenet of this theory is that members of high-status groups are motivated to take action to protect the status quo, because experiences of unfairness and injustice among the disadvantaged may lead to social protest (e.g., Merton, 1938;Van Zomeren et al, 2008). High-status groups possess power, authority, and prestige (Magee & Galinsky, 2008) and tend to spread their ideologies (more or less deliberately) through institutions, such as school (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1964, 1970; see Croizet et al, 2017, for a recent review). These ideologies mainly consist of giving priority to individuals' merit (i.e., talent and effort) over structural forces (i.e., social class membership, barriers to individual mobility) as causes of people's social standing (see Guilbaud, 2018;Jost & Hunyady, 2005;Sidanius & Pratto, 1999).…”

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confidence: 99%

Collectivism and Individualism in Status Hierarchies: Socialization and Social Identity Explanations

Iacoviello

Lorenzi‐Cioldi

2019

International Review of Social Psychology

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Group status is the outcome of the rank ordering of groups on valued dimensions. This concept is distinguished from personal status, which defines the rank ordering of individuals in a given context. It is inherently comparative, involving evaluations that one's membership group occupies a respected position in a social hierarchy. The construct is often used interchangeably with related and somewhat more specific concepts, notably power, privilege, dominance, and social class. 1 Social class, like status, conveys judgments of respect and competence (Darley & Gross, 1983; Fiske, 2010). Despite being most of the time an inherited privilege, it is often regarded as having been acquired by individuals' efforts, competence, and abilities (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1964, 1970; Rosette & Thompson, 2005). The personal and the collective in status hierarchies Recent research has demonstrated that individualistic and collectivistic perceptions of self and society can be arrayed on a status continuum (e.g., Kraus et al., 2012; for a similar claim using the constructs of agency and communion, see Rucker, Galinsky, & Magee, 2018). These constructs refer to 'the degree to which people in a society are integrated into groups' (Hofstede, 2011: 11; Triandis, 1994). Toward the collectivistic pole, people show attentiveness to others and vigilance to features of situations, and perceive

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confidence: 99%

Collectivism and Individualism in Status Hierarchies: Socialization and Social Identity Explanations

Iacoviello

Lorenzi‐Cioldi

2019

International Review of Social Psychology

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“…Moreover, egalitarian values and commitment to others are central European values ( Vignoles et al, 2018 ), and yet economic inequality is increasing across Europe, with significant implications for subjective well-being and mental health ( Delhey & Dragolov, 2014 ; Pickett & Wilkinson, 2015 ; Wilkinson & Pickett, 2017 ). Although economic inequality is an emerging topic in European social psychology (e.g., Croizet, Goudeau, Marot, & Millet, 2017 ; Rodriguez-Bailon et al, 2017 ), very little research is conducted on this topic from a cultural perspective in the European context. This is surprising given the clear differences in attitudes towards inequality across Europe ( Pew Research Center, 2014 ).…”

Section: What Is Missing From the Current Discussion On Europe’s Cultmentioning

confidence: 99%

Europe’s Culture(s): Negotiating Cultural Meanings, Values, and Identities in the European Context

Göbel

Benet-Martínez

Mesquita

et al. 2018

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

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The intent of this Special Issue is to be a starting point for a broadly-defined European cultural psychology. Across seven research articles, the authors of this Special Issue explore what European culture(s) and European identity entail, how acculturation within the European cultural contexts takes place and under what conditions a multicultural Europe might be possible. The Special Issue also discusses what is currently missing from the research agenda. Therein, the findings of this Special Issue constitute an important starting point for future psychological research that accompanies Europe along its journey into the 21st century.

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“…To the contrary, this selection function might actually contribute to the reproduction of social inequalities by leading evaluators to create a social class achievement gap. There is a growing literature demonstrating how the way educational institutions operate is involved in the reproduction of social inequalities (e.g., Croizet et al, 2017;. Our research adds to this literature by identifying a structural factor-the function of selection of assessment-that shapes the role of evaluators in the creation of a social class achievement gap, even when there are no actual differences in performance.…”

Section: Limitations and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 91%

The function of selection of assessment leads evaluators to artificially create the social class achievement gap.

Autin¹,

Batruch²,

Butera³

2019

Journal of Educational Psychology

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To understand the persistent social class achievement gap, researchers have investigated how educational settings affect lower versus higher socioeconomic status (SES) students' performance. We move beyond the question of actual performance to study its assessment by evaluators. We hypothesized that even in the absence of performance differences, assessment's function of selection (i.e., compare, rank, and track students) leads evaluators to create a SES achievement gap. In 2 experiments (N ϭ 196; N ϭ 259), participants had to assess a test supposedly produced by a high-or a low-SES student, and used assessment for selection (i.e., normative grading) or learning (i.e., formative comments). Results showed that evaluators using assessment for selection found more mistakes if the test was attributed to a low-rather than a high-SES student, a difference reduced in the assessment for learning condition. The third and fourth experiments (N ϭ 374; N ϭ 306) directly manipulated the function of assessment to investigate whether the production of the social class achievement gap was facilitated by the function of selection to a greater extent than the educational function. Results of Experiment 3 supported this hypothesis. The effect did not reach significance for Experiment 4, but an internal meta-analysis confirmed that assessment used for selection led evaluators to create a SES achievement gap more than assessment used for learning, thereby contributing to the reproduction of social inequalities. Educational Impact and Implications Statement Evaluators' knowledge about students' social class can bias their assessment, in favor of privileged students. The present research suggests that assessment in itself does not trigger such a bias, nor are teachers biased in themselves; rather it is the function given to assessment that can trigger or prevent discriminatory assessment. This research found that a social class gap in evaluation appears when assessment is used for selective purposes (i.e., gauging merit and sorting students) to a greater extent that when it is used for educational purposes (i.e., fostering learning). The findings indicate that to ensure equality in educational institutions, closer attention should be paid to the role and meaning of assessment.

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How do educational contexts contribute to the social class achievement gap: documenting symbolic violence from a social psychological point of view

Cited by 41 publications

References 42 publications

Collectivism and Individualism in Status Hierarchies: Socialization and Social Identity Explanations

Collectivism and Individualism in Status Hierarchies: Socialization and Social Identity Explanations

Europe’s Culture(s): Negotiating Cultural Meanings, Values, and Identities in the European Context

The function of selection of assessment leads evaluators to artificially create the social class achievement gap.

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