“What the Heck Are You Going to Do With That?”: An Insight into the Affective Consequences of College-to-Career Comparisons Pubblico

Abstract

Although efforts to understand student culture around college-to-career issues at elite universities are growing, research on how these patterns translate to other types of university contexts is sorely lacking. The present study uses a social-psychological framework to demonstrate how student culture at a next-tier selective liberal arts university impacts status hierarchies and students’ experiences of college. Relying on social comparison theory, the author examines 123 in-depth participant observations of Emory undergraduates to assess how groups of students discuss status beliefs, engage in social comparisons, and reflect on comparison-based affective consequences. Utilizing qualitative analyses, the author found that a majority of students, across all demographic groups and academic groups, described a common status belief system: a well-formed status hierarchy of majors and careers. Overall, three key themes of certainty, institutional resources, and intellectual prestige underly the status hierarchy at Emory and functioned as significant drivers of students’ social comparisons. By drawing boundaries between “high-status” and “low-status” career clusters, students’ status distinctions shape their social comparisons and their positive or negative affective outcomes. Ultimately, these results indicate the social-psychological impact of social comparisons, how they have a real-world impact on students, and their significance for researchers continuing to define and explore culture. Future research should continue to address the negative social-psychological consequences of status hierarchies on students to provide better-informed faculty when advising and educating students.

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1

Research Questions………………………………………………………………………………..5

Literature Review……………………………………………………………………………….....6

Methods…………………………………………………………………………………………..14

Results……………………………………………………………………………………………18

Discussion………………………………………………………………………………………..51

References………………………………………………………………………………….…….61

Appendix I……………………………………………………………………………………….66

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Sociology
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Social Sociology, General
Parola chiave	Sociology Affective consequences Status beliefs Social comparison theory
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Scott, Tracy , Emory University
Committee Members	Kim, Yun , Emory University Hegtvedt, Karen, Emory University

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