eprintid: 10006646
rev_number: 16
eprint_status: archive
userid: 587
dir: disk0/00/00/66/46
datestamp: 2011-03-22 10:27:33
lastmod: 2017-12-07 21:16:31
status_changed: 2011-03-30 10:37:01
type: thesis
metadata_visibility: show
item_issues_count: 0
creators_name: Vryonides, Marios
title: The role of social and cultural capital in choice making for post secondary school destinations : the case of contemporary Cyprus
ispublished: unpub
divisions: B14
note: Thesis: (PhD) University of London Institute of Education, 2003.
abstract: This study investigates the choices that students coming from different social
backgrounds and from the full range of secondary schools in Cyprus make regarding
their post school destinations. It is based on a theory, which regards the family as a
central agency in the reproduction of inequalities. This study argues that apart from
making the most of their financial capital, Cypriot families utillse intentionally or in
an unintended manner the non-monetary capitals they may have available such as
their cultural capital and more importantly their social capital to produce social
'profits' for the education of their offspring. Social capital is seen as a major factor
that can explain the unequal pattern of educational choices made by the growing
ranks of students coming from -different social origins regarding their post school
destinations. Different families adopt various strategies to cope with the lack of that
resource and it appears that some families have more options to consider than others.
The differential ability to cope with the lack of social capital constitutes a source of
social differentiation. The mobilisation of various resources is examined in a social
environment whereby for the past three or four decades went through a process of
modermsation. This rapid transition has led to the co-existence of traditional and
modernist perspectives of how social relations and gender issues are perceived.
Adherence to one or another perspective affects the strategies that families employ
for their children's educational prospects.
This research used a multiple or mixed method approach combining quantitative and
qualitative methodologies in a complimentary manner. A stratified sample of 404
students graduating from all kinds of secondary schools and their parents completed
questionnaires. A selected sample of 24 parents was interviewed. The findings of the
study indicate that choice making varies across social class and is influenced by
gender. Of the non-monetary resources investigated social capital appears to act as a
hidden mechanism of social selection in modem Cyprus particularly because it
allows for the creation of a certain habitus that allows some privileged families and
students mostly from middle class backgrounds to make far reaching and daring
decisions which offer them the possibility for social success in a competitive and
4close' labour market whereas at the same time it makes others from lower social
class backgrounds to make 'pragmatic' choices which often mean making
compromises in their ambitions to achieve social success.
date: 2003
date_type: completed
oa_status: green
thesis_class: doctoral_open
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
full_text_status: public
pages: 332
institution: Institute of Education, University of London
thesis_type: Doctoral
citation:        Vryonides, Marios;      (2003)    The role of social and cultural capital in choice making for post secondary school destinations : the case of contemporary Cyprus.                   Doctoral thesis , Institute of Education, University of London.     Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10006646/1/405102.pdf