2023/10/11 by Léon Marbach, Agnès van Zanten · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Higher Education Research Studies #Social Capital and Networks #Social and Cultural Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1080/01425692.2023.2266574
openalex publication_date 2023/10/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
This article analyses the influence of family and friends on students’ higher education plans. Using a Bourdieusian framework, it examines social class and contextual influences on both the structure of students’ networks and the content of interactions within them. These are shown to be dependent on the dispositions and capitals of both the students and the members of those networks. Relying on data from a questionnaire circulated among 1,645 French lycée students, the article shows the existence of significant social class differences in the frequency and nature of students’ interactions about higher education with various types of family members and friends. It also highlights that these differences are subject to contextual variations, with students from the same social background interacting differently with their personal networks about their higher education plans depending on the school they attend and the track in which they are enrolled.