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Masters Thesis_FINAL_Wright.pdf (840.27 KB)

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What is in a Major? Habitus, class, gender, and major choice among first-generation college students

Wright, Ashley Leann
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu155500065738355

Abstract Details

2019, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Sociology.
Drawing on literature on habitus and class-based dispositions (Bordieu 1990); social class, occupation, and values (Kohn 1969); and parental work and home environment (Parcel and Meneghan 1994), this paper examines the relationship between parental occupation, class background, and college major choice of first-generation college students. Using ELS: 2012 data, I focus on how the intersection of class background and gender influence college major choice. Regression analyses investigate whether the effects of parental occupation on student major selection vary by gender, social class, and first-generation status. Findings reveal that first-generation college students’ major varies by gender. Further, first-generation college students more often choose majors with clear occupational trajectories and are less likely to choose male-dominated majors. This research can inform policy around gaps in field of study and patterns of attrition by gender and among first-generation college students, while also speaking to broader sociological questions and issues of inequality, mobility, and status attainment trajectories.
Vincent Roscigno (Committee Co-Chair)
Natatsha Quadlin (Committee Co-Chair)
Buchmann Claudia (Committee Member)
45 p.
Sociology

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Citations

  • Wright, A. L. (2019). What is in a Major? Habitus, class, gender, and major choice among first-generation college students [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu155500065738355

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wright, Ashley . What is in a Major? Habitus, class, gender, and major choice among first-generation college students . 2019. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu155500065738355.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wright, Ashley . "What is in a Major? Habitus, class, gender, and major choice among first-generation college students ." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu155500065738355

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu155500065738355
436
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