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The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education

Polite, Tiffany Nicholl
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1531936651388741

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Educational Studies.
Despite many periods and methods of resistance, inequality in access to higher education persists. Power has been established as inherent to issues of inequality and as such, any research on inequality is by extension an inquiry into power relations. Yet, there remains a dearth of literature that explicity addresses power and its relationship to higher education inequality. This study examined this relationship, situated on the premise that selectivity, identified as an observable indicator of power, could be used to model a hypothesized relationship between power and inequality to access in higher education. In addition, this research illuminated the contribution of institutions to persistent inequality, a departure from much of the research on higher education inequality, which tends to focus on students. This research drew on theoretical constructs of power, institutional control, and social reproduction to establish the conceptual framework for investigating the role of institutions in the creation and maintenance of inequality. Utilizing this framework, the study’s overarching research question was: what effect does the exercise and maintenance of power have on persistent inequality in access to higher education? Specifically, this study was concerned with the ways in which institutions have shifted in selectivity over time, and the effects of these shifts on the enrollments of underrepresented students. Three analyses were conducted for 69 land-grant institutions, chosen because of their founding mission to promote education for the underserved. Each analysis used multilevel modeling as the analytic method. The first assessed the trend in selectivity over time, with the second and third modeling the effects of this trend on the enrollments of Pell-eligible and Black students. Statistically significant results suggested that selectivity has increased over time at these large public institutions. Further, this increase has resulted in a decrease in the enrollment of Black and Pell-eligible students. Possible implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed and suggestions for future research to extend this line of inquiry are offered in closing.
Tatiana Suspitsyna (Advisor)
David Melamed (Committee Member)
Matthew Mayhew (Committee Member)
179 p.
Higher Education; Organization Theory
Power; Inequality; Selectivity; Bourdieu; Institutionalism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Polite, T. N. (2018). The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1531936651388741

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Polite, Tiffany. The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education. 2018. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1531936651388741.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Polite, Tiffany. "The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1531936651388741

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1531936651388741
409
© 2018, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.