Abstract
The chapter by Sue Heath, Alison Fuller, and Brenda Johnston tackles the question on how personal networks govern individual educational decisions. The case study illustrates different ways in which the decision to pursue higher education is influenced by one’s personal network. The study demonstrates the social embeddedness and complexity of what we usually consider an “individual” decision. Besides, in focusing on those who did not pursue higher education, the study questions the voluntary and conscious character of decisions and brings to the fore the significance of identities, norms, habits, and habitus in understanding social action.
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Notes
- 1.
The authors are grateful to the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council for funding the research reported in this chapter (award number RES 139-25-0232). The project was funded between 2006 and 2008 at the University of Southampton, UK. The full research team consisted of Alison Fuller, Sue Heath, Brenda Johnston, Nick Foskett, Ros Foskett, Felix Meringe, John Taylor, Martin Dyke, Patricia Rice, Laura Staetsky, Karen Paton and Marie Kenny.
- 2.
‘Clever clogs’ is an English expression used to describe someone who is ostentatiously and annoyingly knowledgeable, but also used more generally to refer to someone who is academically able.
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Heath, S., Fuller, A., Johnston, B. (2017). How Personal Networks Govern Educational Decisions. In: Hollstein, B., Matiaske, W., Schnapp, KU. (eds) Networked Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50386-8_7
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