No evidence of direct peer influence in upper-secondary track choice—evidence from Hungary

IF 2.3 1区社会学 Q2 SOCIOLOGY

European Societies Pub Date : 2022-10-04 DOI:10.1080/14616696.2022.2127828

Tamás Keller

{"title":"No evidence of direct peer influence in upper-secondary track choice—evidence from Hungary","authors":"Tamás Keller","doi":"10.1080/14616696.2022.2127828","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper investigates direct peer influence in upper-secondary track choice in the stratified and selective Hungarian educational system and makes two contributions to the literature. First, it tests both peer-contrasting and peer-conforming influences by considering peers’ GPA and endogenous educational choices. Second, the paper investigates mechanisms behind peer-conforming educational choices (such as peers’ normative pressure and information potential), with a focus on two structurally different peer relationships: self-selected friends and randomly assigned deskmates. The study uses a unique dataset that merges administrative data with randomized field experiment data. The results show no evidence of peer influence, after accounting for unobserved classroom homogeneity. Within the classroom, peers’ ability did not decrease, and peers’ ambitious endogenous educational choices did not increase students’ own choice of the academic upper-secondary track. Concerning the mechanisms of peer-conforming educational choices, the results reveal that peers’ informational potential (but not their normative pressure) might be the mechanism that drives students to conform to peers’ choices. Thus, the absence of peer influence may contribute to the reproduction of pre-existing social inequalities in upper-secondary track choices since peer influence cannot derail students’ socially determined educational choices in Hungary..","PeriodicalId":47392,"journal":{"name":"European Societies","volume":"25 1","pages":"154 - 180"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Societies","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2022.2127828","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigates direct peer influence in upper-secondary track choice in the stratified and selective Hungarian educational system and makes two contributions to the literature. First, it tests both peer-contrasting and peer-conforming influences by considering peers’ GPA and endogenous educational choices. Second, the paper investigates mechanisms behind peer-conforming educational choices (such as peers’ normative pressure and information potential), with a focus on two structurally different peer relationships: self-selected friends and randomly assigned deskmates. The study uses a unique dataset that merges administrative data with randomized field experiment data. The results show no evidence of peer influence, after accounting for unobserved classroom homogeneity. Within the classroom, peers’ ability did not decrease, and peers’ ambitious endogenous educational choices did not increase students’ own choice of the academic upper-secondary track. Concerning the mechanisms of peer-conforming educational choices, the results reveal that peers’ informational potential (but not their normative pressure) might be the mechanism that drives students to conform to peers’ choices. Thus, the absence of peer influence may contribute to the reproduction of pre-existing social inequalities in upper-secondary track choices since peer influence cannot derail students’ socially determined educational choices in Hungary..

查看原文本刊更多论文

没有证据表明同伴对高中课程选择有直接影响——来自匈牙利的证据

本文研究了匈牙利分层和选择性教育系统中同伴对高中课程选择的直接影响，并对文献做出了两项贡献。首先，它通过考虑同伴的GPA和内生教育选择来测试同伴对比和同伴顺从的影响。其次，研究了同伴服从教育选择背后的机制(如同伴的规范压力和信息潜力)，重点研究了两种结构不同的同伴关系:自我选择的朋友和随机分配的同桌。该研究使用了一个独特的数据集，将管理数据与随机现场实验数据合并在一起。在考虑了未观察到的课堂同质性之后，结果显示没有同伴影响的证据。在课堂上，同伴的能力没有下降，同伴雄心勃勃的内生教育选择没有增加学生对学术高中轨道的自主选择。在同伴服从教育选择的机制方面，研究结果表明，同伴的信息潜能(而非规范压力)可能是促使学生服从同伴选择的机制。因此，同伴影响的缺失可能会导致高中课程选择中先前存在的社会不平等的再现，因为在匈牙利，同伴影响不会破坏学生的社会决定的教育选择。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

European Societies SOCIOLOGY-

CiteScore

15.70

自引率

1.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： European Societies, the flagship journal of the European Sociological Association, aims to promote and share sociological research related to Europe. As a generalist sociology journal, we welcome research from all areas of sociology. However, we have a specific focus on addressing the socio-economic and socio-political challenges faced by European societies, as well as exploring all aspects of European social life and socioculture. Our journal is committed to upholding ethical standards and academic independence. We conduct a rigorous and anonymous review process for all submitted manuscripts. This ensures the quality and integrity of the research we publish. European Societies encourages a plurality of perspectives within the sociology discipline. We embrace a wide range of sociological methods and theoretical approaches. Furthermore, we are open to articles that adopt a historical perspective and engage in comparative research involving Europe as a whole or specific European countries. We also appreciate comparative studies that include societies beyond Europe. In summary, European Societies is dedicated to promoting sociological research with a focus on European societies. We welcome diverse methodological and theoretical approaches, historical perspectives, and comparative studies involving Europe and other societies.