Key Terms
credentialism-- the dynamic wherein if a person earns a degree, they are deemed qualified to hold this, that or the other job that that degree pertains to.
cultural capital--the manners, tastes, habits, values, expectations, skills, knowledge and other cultural dispositions wealthy parents model for their children and which provide the children advantages in their own subsequent socio-economic mobility.
education—the social institution in which the processes of transmitting a society’s knowledge, skills, norms and values are organized.
hidden curriculum—the phenomenon whereby in addition to what they learn from the intended curriculum of their respective schools/universities, there are usually unintended take-away messages students garner about “what really matters” (cultural values) and “how things really are” (based on what they see in administrators’ and instructors’ actual behavior)
self-fulfilling prophecy—an occurrence or event in social life that comes about due to the impact of inaccurate expectations bringing the event/occurrence into being, a prediction which, itself, comes true due to people’s belief in the prediction actually altering their actions.
schooling--formalized, explicit instruction in a classroom setting.
social capital—others in our social networks and the relationships with them we can draw upon to gain advantage in society.