THE COLLECTIVE IDENTITY OF SOCIAL CLASS: A SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND POSTSECONDARY ACHIEVEMENT by Rachelle Thibodeau A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Carleton University Ottawa, Canada ©2010 Rachelle Thibodeau Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-79619-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-79619-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Class Identity and Student Achievement ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate psychological class identification as a possible mediator in the association between socioeconomic status and achievement. Researchers in sociology and education have found that people who identify with a "lower" social class may experience feelings of exclusion, shame and inauthenticity in relation to higher education, and that these feelings can affect their educational choices and achievement. However, psychologists interested in identity and achievement have devoted little attention to socioeconomic status or social class. To address this gap, I developed the Collective Identity of Social Class (CISC) scale to measure psychological class identification. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis produced a solution with four interrelated factors: (1) Attachment and Embeddeness, (2) Certainty of Self categorization, (3) Salience and Importance, and (4) Mutual Fate. The CISC's factors are similar to factors that represent identification with other natural social groups. Interestingly, CISC scores were not associated with beliefs in meritocracy, indicating that psychological class identity differs from some sociological conceptions of social class. In Study 2,1 used structural equation modelling to examine the role of class identity, academic self-concept, student engagement, and high school average in mediating the influence of socioeconomic status on university grades. The model predicted 28% of the variance in GPA. As expected, high school average and academic self-concept had a positive influence on GPA. SES had complex influences on GPA, consisting of a negative direct effect and positive indirect effects. Engagement had no effect on GPA. For working-class students, class identity had an unexpectedly positive ii Class Identity and Student Achievement direct effect on GPA, but did not affect engagement or academic self-concept. For middle-class students, class identity had a positive effect on engagement, but no effect on GPA or academic self-concept. I discuss these findings in relation to the literature on social identity, academic self-concept and student engagement, and I argue that there is a need to test models that include the effects of both academic self-conceptions and student engagement. Overall, the collective identity of social class is a promising measure that brings much-needed social-psychological attention to socioeconomic status and class identity. Keywords: social class, social identity, socioeconomic class attitudes, academic self concept, student engagement, college students, college academic achievement 111 Class Identity and Student Achievement ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Timothy Pychyl. Tim has been a mentor to me throughout my studies. His dedication and integrity as both a teacher and researcher have been an inspiration and example that always made me want to be a better academic. It was a privilege to hone my skills and ideas with his support. I would like to thank my examiners for their careful reading and for their thoughtful questions and comments. Thanks to them, defending my dissertation research was an enriching experience that left me eager to continue my exploration of these ideas. I could not have completed this degree without the support of my employers at Carleton University and my colleagues at the Centre for Initiatives in Education, who allowed me the flexibility to pursue both my academic and my professional passions. I have learned a lot from fellow students over the years, but none comes close to Mohsen Haghbin, whose expertise, generosity, and friendship I simply couldn't have done without. This work is dedicated to my parents. In their very different ways, they both taught me that I was good enough to be anything I wanted, and that anything I wanted to be was good enough. IV Class Identity and Student Achievement Table of Contents ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv List of Tables ix List of Figures x List of Appendices xi INTRODUCTION 1 1. SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, SOCIAL CLASS AND EDUCATION 6 Social Class, Socioeconomic Status and Higher Education: Correlates of Educational Choice, Performance, and Attainment 7 Mechanisms Linking Postsecondary Outcomes and Parental SES 12 Perspectives on Social Stratification 16 Measuring Social Class and Socioeconomic Status 18 Subjective Measures 21 Placing oneself in a social class 22 Accuracy of subjective class placement 24 Lay conceptions of class criteria and class structure 27 Chapter summary 30 2. COLLECTIVE IDENTITY OF SOCIAL CLASS 32 Class as a Sociocultural Identity 33 Class Cultures in the University Context 34 A Social-Psychological Perspective on Class Identity 38 Collective Identity 41 Elements of Collective Identity 41 Self-categorization 42 Social status of the membership group 45 Structural features of groups 46 Perceived legitimacy and stability 50 Perceived similarity to group prototype 51 Summary of self-categorization dimensions 53 Explicit and Implicit Importance 54 Salience 55 Evaluation 61 Attachment and Sense of Interdependence 63 Social Embeddedness 65 Table of Contents continues . .. v Class Identity and Student Achievement Summary of Proposed Elements of the Collective Identity of Social Class 67 Behavioural Involvement 67 Content and Meaning 68 Factor-analytic Studies of Collective Identity Structure and Content.... 71 Dimensions of the Collective Identity of Social Class Scale 74 Self-categorization 74 Evaluation 76 Group Connection 77 Content and Meaning 78 Chapter Summary 79 3. ACADEMIC SELF-CONCEPT 80 Academic Self-concept Definition 81 Self-concept and Academic Achievement 82 Models of Academic Self-concept 84 Causal Relation between Academic Self-concept and Achievement 86 Moderators of Academic Self-concept 89 Socioeconomic Status 93 Chapter Summary 98 4. STUDENT ENGAGEMENT 100 Stigma, Stereotypes and Disengagement 103 Socioeconomic Status and Student Engagement 104 Chapter Summary 108 5. RATIONALE FOR THE DISSERTATION RESEARCH 110 6. STUDY 1: CONSTRUCTION OF THE COLLECTIVE IDENTITY OF SOCIAL CLASS SCALE 114 Purpose 114 Method and Procedures 114 Measures _ H5 Student Information Survey 116 Collective Identity of Social Class 121 Convergent Validity: Inclusion of Lngroup irx the Self. 132 Discriminant Validity: Social Attitudes Survey 133 Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding: - 136 Design and Procedures 136 Results 138 Table of contents continues... VI Class Identity and Student Achievement Preliminary Analyses 138 Missing Values and Assumptions 138 Preliminary Analysis of the CISC Scale 140 Implicit Importance 140 Convergent Validity 142 Subjective Salience 142 Discriminant Validity 143 Social Desirability 144 Demographic Analyses 144 Exploratory Factor Analysis 145 Relations between Rotated CISC Factors and Other Independent Variables 154 Chapter Summary 155 7. STUDY 2: COLLECTIVE IDENTITY OF SOCIAL CLASS AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 157 Purpose 157 Method and Procedures 157 Participants 157 Measures 158 Collective Identity of Social Class Scale 159 Academic Self-concept 159 National Survey of Student Engagement 160 Prior Academic Achievement 161 Academic Achievement 162 Procedure 162 Results