SEA conference - what's new, what's developing

Over the weekend I attended the Sociology of Education Association conference in Monterey, CA.

The conference was intimate, with all presenters and attendees in the same room for each session.  The theme was "Educational Transitions."  Much of the talk outside of the presentations was about thinking of new (or more in-depth ways) to describe and frame findings, beyond SES and gender. Several presenters used Social network theory or social network analysis to frame their work, which spoke to this challenge.  Below were some papers that used this perspective:

Melanie Toshiye Jones, "Fragmented or reliable information: Use of college information sources among African Americans"

This paper considered the social networks of high school students - how they accessed information to apply for college. I was particularly fascinated in how the "in-person" networks of students influenced their online practices and digital literacy. 

Janis McCabe [and Brandon Adonis Jackson], "The financial aid grapevine: Social capital in undergraduate' experiences with college cost."

Janis presented data on how college students social networks shape their access to information and resources for financial aid.  One particularly interesting aspect of her presentation was in the limitations of social capital - that ones' social network could only go so far in affecting larger institutional changes.

Also, Donnell Butler presented "From segregation to integration: The effect of race and high school segregation on social integration at predominantly white colleges,"  which had some interesting implications from a social network perspective.  His findings supported the viewpoint that densely connected, close, homophilic networks provide the highest degree of emotional support. I wondered about the drawbacks of these types of networks, in terms of access to resources and new information.

All in all, many new ideas to think about and explore!