Sieve, Incubator, Temple, Hub: Empirical and Theoretical Advances in the Sociology of Higher Education

Abstract

Higher education lacks an intellectually coherent sociology; varied research on colleges and universities is dispersed widely throughout the discipline. This review initiates a critical integration of this scholarship. We argue that sociologists have conceived of higher education systems as sieves for sorting and stratifying populations, incubators for the development of competent social actors, temples for the legitimation of official knowledge, and hubs connecting multiple institutional domains. Bringing these lines of scholarship together facilitates new theoretical insights and research questions.

Doing Less with More: Cohorts, Education, and Civic Participation in America

“…Education's impact on holding a leadership position in a local organization is contingent on the educational level of others in a cohort, and it is probable that this is due to competition. Individuals with college degrees usually have more human, social, and cultural capital (Putnam 2000;Stevens, Armstrong, and Arum 2008); all of these can be used to convince others to support their leadership intentions. However, if everyone in a person's cohort has the same levels of human, social, and cultural capital, then it no longer provides a competitive advantage (Campbell 2009;Nie, Junn, and Stehlik-Barry 1996).…”

“…Third, college promotes interpersonal interaction, increasing social capital i (Moffatt 1989;Stevens, Armstrong, and Arum 2008). Finally, colleges develop cultural capital-as well as confidence and social prestige-by providing a better understanding of how social institutions work (Stevens, Armstrong, and Arum 2008;Wilson and Musick 1997).…”

“…Finally, colleges develop cultural capital-as well as confidence and social prestige-by providing a better understanding of how social institutions work (Stevens, Armstrong, and Arum 2008;Wilson and Musick 1997).…”

“…However, most scholarship assumes an "absolute educational model" in which the value of a college degree does not change over time (Nie, Junn, and Stehlik-Barry 1996, 97-101;Converse 1972). According to the absolute educational model, coursework and extra-curricular programs enable the student to develop crucial network ties, understandings of how to behave in adult social life, skills such as public speaking and managing projects, and eventually higher-paying jobs (Stevens, Armstrong, and Arum 2008;Hout 2012).…”

The Partial Deinstitutionalization of Affirmative Action in U.S. Higher Education, 1988 to 2014

“…Our attention to status is informed by the robust body of research on status differences across U.S. colleges and universities. As this scholarship demonstrates, the field of U.S. higher education is very hierarchical (Bastedo and Gumport 2003;Stevens, Armstrong, and Arum 2008;Posselt et al 2012), and field-level practices and policies often differ according to school status (e.g., Levitsky and Armstrong 2017).…”