Exploring Latino/a college students’ transition experiences: An ethnography of social preparedness and familial support

This ethnographic case study examined first-year, first-generation, low-income Latino/a college students’ social experiences and familial support during their transition from a charter high school to four-year universities. Through interviews and observations, we found that maintaining communication and building relationships among high school and college peers, high school faculty and staff, and college professors were essential to navigating the educational system; also, having a family that supported their academic work to allow students to only focus on their coursework was important.     

杨朱的“为我”思想与社会转型期信仰危机

先秦时期,杨朱提出了“为我”的思想,对此,历史上的评价大相径庭,但对杨朱及其思想的否定是社会的主流。实际上,“为我”思想的提出,是社会转型期信仰危机环境的必然,它也曾具有其一定的社会价值。“利天下”作为一个长远目标,必须和人们的眼前利益紧密结合在一起才有实际的意义。而历史上这往往成为统治者为了满足自我私利的一块遮羞布,严重脱离了社会实际,成为一句空泛的口号,因而失去了其应有的号召力。因此,对“为我”和“利天下”应一分为二地分析,应把“为我”作为前车之鉴。     

Pure ethnic gaps in educational attainment and school to work transitions: When do they arise?

This article decomposes the observed gaps in educational attainment and school-to-work transitions in Belgium between grandchildren of natives and of women of “non-Western” nationality into (i) differences in observed family endowments and (ii) a residual “pure ethnic gap”. It innovates by explicitly taking delays in educational attainment into account, by identifying the moments at which the pure ethnic gaps arise, by disentangling the decision to continue schooling at the end of a school year from the achievement within a particular grade, and by integrating the language spoken at home among observed family endowments. The pure ethnic gap in educational attainment is found to be small if delays are neglected, but substantial if not and for school-to-work transitions. It is shown that more than 20% of the pure ethnic gap in graduating from secondary school without delay originates in tenth grade. Language usage explains only part of the gap in school-to-work transitions for low educated.     

Female paths to adulthood in a country of ‘genderless gender’

In this article the life history of a young Finnish woman, Salla, is explored along with reflections of her best friend and other peers. The analysis is conducted from the perspective of Finland as a country of ‘genderless gender’, where mute or hidden gendering and sexualisation converge with the gender-neutral rhetoric about the individual self. Structural and individual understandings of ambivalence are used to analyse Salla's tensions when she tries to realise her own expectations and those of the Finnish context. Ambivalence appears in relation to education, in relation to heterosexual partnerships, career and family as well as in relation to Finland as a country of genderless gender with a myth of gender equality. The article draws from an ethnographically grounded longitudinal life historical study on young people's paths to adulthood.     

A question of agency: applying Sen's theory of human capability to the concept of secondary school student career ‘choice’

In this paper, we seek to operationalize Amartya Sen's concept of human capability to guide a scholarly investigation of student career choice capability. We begin by outlining factors affecting youth labour markets in Australia; a prosperous country that is affected by a ‘two-speed’ national economy. We then examine recent government initiatives that have been designed to combat youth unemployment and cyclical disadvantage by enhancing the aspirations and career knowledge of secondary school students. We argue that these policy measures are based on four assumptions: first, that career choice capability is a problem of individual agency; second, that the dissemination of career information can empower students to act as ‘consumers’ in an unequal job market; third, that agency is simply a question of will; and finally, that school education and career advice – as a means to freedom in the space of career development – is of equal quality, distribution and value to an increasingly diverse range of upper secondary school students. The paper concludes by outlining a conceptual framework capable of informing an empirical research project that aims to test these assumptions by measuring and comparing differences between groups in the range of freedom to achieve and, therefore, to choose.     

Child AD/HD severity and psychological functioning in relation to divorce,remarriage, multiple transitions and the quality of family relationships

Both Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and divorce are very prevalent in western societies, and they may occur together. AD/HD is generally viewed as a neurobiological disorder, which has led to a commonly held belief that social-environmental factors play little role in the symptom profile of children diagnosed with the disorder. This study investigated the association between parental divorce, remarriage, multiple transitions, the quality of relationships with family members and the psychological well-being of children and adolescents with AD/HD. First, differences in children’s AD/HD symptom profiles in relation to parents’ divorce status (single/multiple divorce) and family composition (single parent/stepfamily) were examined. Second, the association between the quality of children’s relationships with each family member and parents’ marital status (divorced/non-divorced) and family composition was investigated. In addition, age, gender and AD/HD subtype differences were assessed. Third, the association between the quality of children’s interactions with family members and children’s AD/HD symptom profile was explored. No significant differences in children’s behavioural profiles were found in terms of parents’ divorce status. Living in stepfamilies was associated with greater AD/HD severity and social malfunctioning. Disruptive parent–child and sibling relationships were found to be related to children’s age, gender, AD/HD subtype and parents’ marital status. Further, poor interactions with family members correlated with children’s AD/HD severity and psychological well-being. In summary, divorce, remarriage and the quality of relationships with family members are important correlates of the symptom profile of children with AD/HD, and this emphasises the need for special treatment modules for these families.     

A horizontal approach to school transitions: a lesson learned from Finnish 15‐year‐olds

Various school transitions provide both challenges and opportunities for pupils. The ways in which pupils cope with these transitions can have a significant impact on their everyday lives and futures. This study focuses on exploring the kinds of transitions pupils face during their comprehensive school path. The aim is to gain a better understanding of horizontal and vertical school transitions faced by Finnish ninth graders (n = 518) who are 15‐ to 16‐years‐old during their school careers. These transitions are empirically examined through two complementary aspects: (1) determining the horizontal and vertical transitions in the pupils’ school career; and (2) identifying the challenges faced by the pupils in these transitions. By introducing a horizontal and vertical school transition model and exploring the transitions in this framework we aim at contributing to breaking down the complexity of the transfer process.     

End of journey,end of story? A longitudinal study of involuntary work transitions among laid-off workers

The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge regarding involuntary work transitions among laid-off workers. It is part of an ongoing cooperation with two outplacement agencies enrolling white-collar workers. The particular arrangements, which are based on collective agreements, include relatively generous support, both economically and regarding the educational and counselling arrangements offered. A narrative research approach is used and the analysis is based on interviews with 15 people, conducted on two occasions with about a year in between. Conceptualizing the transition as a biographical learning process, the findings point out a great variety within and between cases. While the basic distinction is drawn between people who have changed their status and those who have not, a number of rhetorical varieties are identified, pointing to different modes of biographical learning. The originality of the paper lies in its narrative approach and the particular conceptual framework showing that biographical learning is a vital part of enforced work transitions.     

The structuration of socio-technical regimes—Conceptual foundations from institutional theory

In recent years, socio-technical transitions literature has gained importance in addressing long-term, transformative change in various industries. In order to account for the inertia and path-dependency experienced in these sectors, the concept of the socio-technical regime has been formulated. Socio-technical regimes denote the paradigmatic core of a sector, which results from the co-evolution of institutions and technologies over time. Despite its widespread acceptance, the regime concept has repeatedly been criticized for lacking a clear operationalization. As a consequence, empirical applications tend to depict regimes as too ‘monolithic’ and ‘homogenous’, not adequately considering persistent institutional tensions and contradictions. These are however crucial for assessing transition dynamics. In this paper, we revisit two concepts from institutional theory that enable an explicit identification of socio-technical regimes and more generally a specification of the ‘semi-coherence’ of socio-technical systems. First, we will show that ‘levels of structuration’ can be conceptualized as degrees of institutionalization, thereby treating institutionalization as a variable with different effects on actors, the stability of the system and thus the potential for change. Secondly, we draw on the institutional logics approach to characterize the content of various structural elements present in a system and to trace conflicts and contradictions between them. We illustrate this approach with an empirical in-depth analysis of the transformation of the Australian urban water sector since the 1970ies.     

NY PEDAGOGISK LITTERATUR

This article is based on data from two national research projects in Norway dealing with upper secondary educational reforms that began in 1994. Together, the research projects represent a longitudinal study of prospective life course data from 1995 to 2003, covering approximately 500 students from the time they were receiving special education in upper secondary school to the age of 22. The analysis is based on theories of social networks, frame factors, risk and resilience, and life course transitions. It uses a typology of social marginalization based on the dimensions of network density and network size to capture the differences in framing opportunities and restrictions on the students’ social network relationships in the spare time arena. The study addresses how such relationships in early adult life are affected by earlier school experiences, such as whether they attended special or mainstream classes, compared with personal factors and their family situation at the start of upper secondary school.