Who’s for Meritocracy? Individual and Contextual Variations in the Faith

Duru‐Bellat, Marie; Tenret, Élise

doi:10.1086/661290

Cited by 80 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Like neoliberal meritocratic beliefs, James’ belief is that his hard work will either lead to academic success or to something else that he is destined to do. In accord with meritocratic worldviews of society and success (Duru‐Bellat & Tenret, ; Warikoo & Fuhr, ), James’ faith—which he accounts as being passed on to him via his parents—provides him with a sense of confidence that his hard work is not in vain. In concurrence with Basit ()'s and Bhatti ()'s research on Muslim girls and boys, a consistent finding with James (and some of the other participants) was that the resources that help drive his ambitions are a mixture of faith, values, beliefs and a hard work ethic, which appears to be an amalgamation of ‘faith capital’ and aspirational capital (Basit, ).…”

Section: The Protective and Aspirational Benefits Of Faith Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

The significance of faith for Black men's educational aspirations

Dumangane

2017

British Educational Res J

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It is uncontested that British African Caribbean men are minimally represented in elite UK higher education institutions. Even as data demonstrates that African Caribbean males are more likely to study further education than White males and that the proportion of UK‐domiciled Black students pursuing higher education has increased since the 2003/04 academic year (ECU, 2014), the representation of Black students throughout the Russell Group remains low. Less than 3% of the entire Russell Group's student population comprised British African Caribbean students in 2011/12 and 2012/2013 (ECU, 2013, p. 203; ECU, 2014, p. 358). However, according to the 2011 Census, ‘Black’ people represent 5.5% (3.1 million) of the total UK population (ONS, 2015). For the few Black men who are successful in attaining acceptance at these exclusive universities, to what assets or capitals do these young men attribute their ability to get to and successful graduate from these institutions? Interviews with 15 Black male students who attended Russell Group universities in England and Wales were analysed and several ‘capitals’ or resources were identified as beneficial to their ability to succeed. Drawing on Bourdieu's work on cultural and social capital, this paper advances the concept of ‘faith capital’ as a unique recognised asset that six of the participants described and reflected upon as being influential on their academic trajectories. Based on findings from the ESRC‐funded research Exploring the narratives of the few: British African Caribbean male graduates of elite universities in England and Wales, this paper discusses these six participants’ accounts of their higher education journeys in relation to how they identified faith as a resource that was influential to their academic success.

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Section: The Protective and Aspirational Benefits Of Faith Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

The significance of faith for Black men's educational aspirations

Dumangane

2017

British Educational Res J

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“…In a longitudinal study, Smith and Matějů () concluded that meritocratic (micro justice) orientations to justice have become more dominant over time. Duru‐Bellat and Tenret () also found generally high levels of pro‐meritocratic attitudes in a recent survey encompassing 26 countries and suggested this may be a product of modern individualistic societies. In practice, this global and temporal increase in support for micro justice principles might explain Australia's current asylum seeker policies, based on the assumption that resources should be allocated to those who possess the highest merit, rather than need.…”

Section: The Contribution Of Social Justice Principlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not all negative: Macro justice principles predict positive attitudes towards asylum seekers in Australia

Anderson

Stuart

Rossen

2015

Australian Journal of Psychology

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Public opinion toward asylum seekers within Australia has become increasingly hostile over the past decade. In particular, such negative attitudes are associated with questioning the legitimacy of those who seek asylum, and the fairness of granting their refugee status. In a sample of 100 students (M age =22.83 years, SD age =8.26 years) we tested the role of macro and micro principles of social justice in predicting attitudes toward asylum seekers, beyond the established role of social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism. Using multiple hierarchical regression analyses, we show that macro justice social principles (i.e., the belief in equal distribution of resources across a society) predict positive attitudes toward asylum seekers beyond the variation accounted for by SDO and RWA in predicting negative attitudes. These results underscore the importance of taking into account individual orientations toward justice; we argue that these findings have important implications for the development of communication designed to reduce prejudice toward asylum seekers. (Word count: 153)

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“…Why, then, should pupils and students believe in school meritocracy? Recent research underscores that meritocratic ideology can be dissociated into two separate constructs (Son Hing et al, 2011; Duru-Bellat and Tenret, 2012): Prescriptive meritocracy corresponds to “how people think the system should work” (i.e., desired meritocracy) whereas descriptive meritocracy corresponds to “how people think the system actually work”—namely, to the belief in meritocracy. In the present paper, we examine the legitimizing function of descriptive meritocracy in the context of school.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Belief in school meritocracy as a system-justifying tool for low status students

et al. 2015

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The belief that, in school, success only depends on will and hard work is widespread in Western societies despite evidence showing that several factors other than merit explain school success, including group belonging (e.g., social class, gender). In the present paper, we argue that because merit is the only track for low status students to reach upward mobility, Belief in School Meritocracy (BSM) is a particularly useful system-justifying tool to help them perceive their place in society as being deserved. Consequently, for low status students (but not high status students), this belief should be related to more general system-justifying beliefs (Study 1). Moreover, low status students should be particularly prone to endorsing this belief when their place within a system on which they strongly depend to acquire status is challenged (Study 2). In Study 1, high status (boys and high SES) were compared to low status (girls and low SES) high school students. Results indicated that BSM was related to system-justifying beliefs only for low SES students and for girls, but not for high SES students or for boys. In Study 2, university students were exposed (or not) to information about an important selection process that occurs at the university, depending on the condition. Their subjective status was assessed. Although such a confrontation reduced BSM for high subjective SES students, it tended to enhance it for low subjective SES students. Results are discussed in terms of system justification motives and the palliative function meritocratic ideology may play for low status students.

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Who’s for Meritocracy? Individual and Contextual Variations in the Faith

Cited by 80 publications

References 22 publications

The significance of faith for Black men's educational aspirations

The significance of faith for Black men's educational aspirations

Not all negative: Macro justice principles predict positive attitudes towards asylum seekers in Australia

Belief in school meritocracy as a system-justifying tool for low status students

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