Social recognition matters: Consequences for school participation and life satisfaction among immigrant students

Abstract

Participation in society is instrumental for democracy and of special importance for minority members. Despite broad research in the context of adults' participation, the earlier formative years and the participation of students in school activities have been neglected so far. The present research examined antecedents and consequences of Latin American migrant students' participation in school activities in Chile. More specifically, we tested whether three forms of social recognition experiences (i.e., need‐based care, equality‐based respect and achievement‐based social esteem) received from Chilean society predicted different forms of school participation. Heightened school participation was assumed to further translate into satisfaction with life. Results of a study with immigrant students (N = 393; 12–20 years old; 56.7% female) revealed, that experiences of social esteem predicted an overall positive perception of school participation and this effect further translated into heightened life satisfaction. Moreover, experiences of respect were associated with participation in school decisions and rules and with participation in school events. The latter effect further translated into enhanced life satisfaction. Care did not play a role in predicting school participation when the other forms of recognition were controlled for. We discuss the importance of social recognition experiences and implications for interventions within educational systems.

Recognitive Justice and Educational Inequalities: An Intersectional Approach Involving Secondary Grade School Students in Greece

“…Assessing, from a theoretical point of view, the deficient experiences of recognition in the form of respect and social esteem, it is important to point out that they are related and caused by two central structural elements of the educational process, which are intertwined in school everyday life: the first element concerns the opportunities and the possibilities of participation of all students at the level of teaching, as well as at the level of school life, in general, and the second element concerns the applied practices of evaluation of individual performance by the class teacher. The importance of participation in school life for building experiences of respect is confirmed by Sirlopú and Renger's research [62], which is based on Honneth's theory of recognition [22][23][24]. Researchers emphasize the role of participation in school life in developing experiences of recognition, in the form of respect, especially for immigrant students.…”

Understanding interaction rituals: The impact of interaction ritual chains of the live broadcast on people’s wellbeing

“…The content creation behaviors of people in the live-broadcast room include “emojis,” “comments,” “screen bullet” and so on, which can affect the sense of control of anchors and make people feel that the live-broadcast channel is full of an entertainment atmosphere, which is also a feature of live-broadcast. The purpose of control that people gain through cooperation and participation in cyberspace enhances their internal satisfaction ( Sirlopú and Renger, 2020 ). At the same time, people’s behaviors in creating and distributing content can satisfy their emotional needs to some extent, and the realization of such emotional needs can further enhance satisfaction.…”

Too different to be equal: Lack of public respect is associated with reduced self‐respect for stigmatized individuals

“…These actions would allow societies to become more inclusive for individuals with disabilities. In turn, this can increase their autonomy and participation in society (Renger et al ., 2017; Sirlopú & Renger, 2020), further increasing self‐respect (Renger, 2018), and perhaps their satisfaction with life (Diener & Diener, 1995; Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985).…”