The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education

The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Polite, Tiffany Nicholl
Language:English
Published: The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2018
Subjects:
Higher Education
Organization Theory
Power
Inequality
Selectivity
Bourdieu
Institutionalism
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1531936651388741
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu15319366513887412021-08-03T07:07:43Z The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education Polite, Tiffany Nicholl Higher Education Organization Theory Power Inequality Selectivity Bourdieu Institutionalism Despite many periods and methods of resistance, inequality in access to higher education persists. Power has been established as inherent to issues of inequality and as such, any research on inequality is by extension an inquiry into power relations. Yet, there remains a dearth of literature that explicity addresses power and its relationship to higher education inequality. This study examined this relationship, situated on the premise that selectivity, identified as an observable indicator of power, could be used to model a hypothesized relationship between power and inequality to access in higher education. In addition, this research illuminated the contribution of institutions to persistent inequality, a departure from much of the research on higher education inequality, which tends to focus on students. This research drew on theoretical constructs of power, institutional control, and social reproduction to establish the conceptual framework for investigating the role of institutions in the creation and maintenance of inequality. Utilizing this framework, the study’s overarching research question was: what effect does the exercise and maintenance of power have on persistent inequality in access to higher education? Specifically, this study was concerned with the ways in which institutions have shifted in selectivity over time, and the effects of these shifts on the enrollments of underrepresented students. Three analyses were conducted for 69 land-grant institutions, chosen because of their founding mission to promote education for the underserved. Each analysis used multilevel modeling as the analytic method. The first assessed the trend in selectivity over time, with the second and third modeling the effects of this trend on the enrollments of Pell-eligible and Black students. Statistically significant results suggested that selectivity has increased over time at these large public institutions. Further, this increase has resulted in a decrease in the enrollment of Black and Pell-eligible students. Possible implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed and suggestions for future research to extend this line of inquiry are offered in closing. 2018-10-11 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1531936651388741 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1531936651388741 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Higher Education
Organization Theory
Power
Inequality
Selectivity
Bourdieu
Institutionalism
spellingShingle Higher Education
Organization Theory
Power
Inequality
Selectivity
Bourdieu
Institutionalism
Polite, Tiffany Nicholl
The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education
author Polite, Tiffany Nicholl
author_facet Polite, Tiffany Nicholl
author_sort Polite, Tiffany Nicholl
title The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education
title_short The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education
title_full The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education
title_fullStr The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education
title_full_unstemmed The Exercise and Maintenance of Power in Organizational Fields: Institutional Selectivity and Persistent Inequality in Higher Education
title_sort exercise and maintenance of power in organizational fields: institutional selectivity and persistent inequality in higher education
publisher The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate 2018
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1531936651388741
work_keys_str_mv AT politetiffanynicholl theexerciseandmaintenanceofpowerinorganizationalfieldsinstitutionalselectivityandpersistentinequalityinhighereducation
AT politetiffanynicholl exerciseandmaintenanceofpowerinorganizationalfieldsinstitutionalselectivityandpersistentinequalityinhighereducation
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