Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 5.12 Social Sciences
Presentation #1 Title
Views from the Summit: White Working Class Appalachian Males and Their Perceptions of Academic Success
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Conducted in the spring of 2012, this qualitative dissertation study explored how White working class Appalachian males who had completed, or who were within one term of completing a program of study at one of the ten community and technical colleges in West Virginia perceived academic success. This study examined their definitions of academic success, the perceptions they held regarding their own past and present academic successes, as well as their views regarding factors from their lived experience that they felt contributed to their program of study completion. While reflecting the changes within White working class identity formation in response to deindustrialization, the findings of this study also present two contradictions with previous research literature. The first contradiction is that these men were found to define academic success from a working class perspective. This implies they did not need to abandon their working class cultural capital in lieu of new cultural capital in order to be successful at the college level. Furthermore, the factors from their lived experience that participants named as contributing positively to their program of study completion were factors that previously have been identified as those that commonly present as barriers to postsecondary success for working class students. Additionally, the perceptions of past and present academic success held by these participants were noted as those that 1) reflect the development of/presence of positive psychological capital within these individuals and 2) demonstrate the educational experiences of these men represent the working class identity in transition.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
A native Appalachian, Stephanie JH Alexander completed her PhD in Cultural Studies in Education at Ohio University in 2013. She is currently an assistant professor of developmental reading and writing at Mountwest Community & Technical College in Huntington, WV.
Views from the Summit: White Working Class Appalachian Males and Their Perceptions of Academic Success
Corbly Hall 464
Conducted in the spring of 2012, this qualitative dissertation study explored how White working class Appalachian males who had completed, or who were within one term of completing a program of study at one of the ten community and technical colleges in West Virginia perceived academic success. This study examined their definitions of academic success, the perceptions they held regarding their own past and present academic successes, as well as their views regarding factors from their lived experience that they felt contributed to their program of study completion. While reflecting the changes within White working class identity formation in response to deindustrialization, the findings of this study also present two contradictions with previous research literature. The first contradiction is that these men were found to define academic success from a working class perspective. This implies they did not need to abandon their working class cultural capital in lieu of new cultural capital in order to be successful at the college level. Furthermore, the factors from their lived experience that participants named as contributing positively to their program of study completion were factors that previously have been identified as those that commonly present as barriers to postsecondary success for working class students. Additionally, the perceptions of past and present academic success held by these participants were noted as those that 1) reflect the development of/presence of positive psychological capital within these individuals and 2) demonstrate the educational experiences of these men represent the working class identity in transition.
