The Cost of Inclusion : How Student Conformity Leads to Inequality on College Campuses

Blake R Silver

ISBN 10: 022670405X / ISBN 13: 9780226704050

Published by University Of Chicago Press Jul 2020, 2020

About this Item

Neuware - 'Blake R. Silver's The Cost of Inclusion is a vivid portrayal of how inequality is produced in day-to-day interactions as students seek-and oftentimes don't find-belonging on campus. When choosing a college, students search for a social fit, a place to learn while also having fun. But what happens when students arrive on campus and enter this new social world After a year spent immersed in student life on a college campus, Silver delves into this rich moment to explore the ways students seek out inclusion and a sense of belonging, illuminating the dynamics of college life as students look for their place-and frequently find themselves stuck-in a social landscape ruled by stereotypes and cookie-cutter identities. He explores the nature of the cookie-cutter self and its relation to raced and gendered cultural meanings, showing how each role students took on had a unique relationship to expressions of value, which could amplify or undermine feelings of belonging. He also lays out a framework for understanding how the inequality produced by adherence to the cookie-cutter self was maintained over time. Silver situates his findings in an ongoing conversation about the nature of higher education as a site for the contestation or reproduction of inequality, showing how understanding students' interaction in social groups provides insights into the ways inequality gets generated, even after challenges related to access have been overcome'.

Seller Inventory # 9780226704050

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Cost of Inclusion : How Student Conformity Leads to Inequality on College Campuses
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press Jul 2020
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 022670405X
• ISBN 13: 9780226704050
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 152H x 13D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 13 millimeters depth
• Weight: 340 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Young people are told that college is a place where they will “find themselves” by engaging with diversity and making friendships that will last a lifetime. This vision of an inclusive, diverse social experience is a fundamental part of the image colleges sell potential students. But what really happens when students arrive on campus and enter this new social world? The Cost of Inclusion delves into this rich moment to explore the ways students seek out a sense of belonging and the sacrifices they make to fit in.

Blake R. Silver spent a year immersed in student life at a large public university. He trained with the Cardio Club, hung out with the Learning Community, and hosted service events with the Volunteer Collective. Through these day-to-day interactions, he witnessed how students sought belonging and built their social worlds on campus. Over time, Silver realized that these students only achieved inclusion at significant cost. To fit in among new peers, they clung to or were pushed into raced and gendered cultural assumptions about behavior, becoming “the cool guy,” “the nice girl,” “the funny one,” “the leader,” “the intellectual,” or “the mom of the group.” Instead of developing dynamic identities, they crafted and adhered to a cookie-cutter self, one that was rigid and two-dimensional. Silver found that these students were ill-prepared for the challenges of a diverse college campus, and that they had little guidance from their university on how to navigate the trials of social engagement or the pressures to conform. While colleges are focused on increasing the diversity of their enrolled student body, Silver’s findings show that they need to take a hard look at how they are failing to support inclusion once students arrive on campus.

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