Underlife: Peer Socialization Agents' Resistance to Higher Education Diversity Narratives

Lindsay Jarratt; Charles R. Martin-Stanley; Jodi L. Linley; Amanda L. Mollet; DaVida L. Anderson; Milad Mohebali

doi:10.1037/dhe0000431

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Underlife: Peer Socialization Agents' Resistance to Higher Education Diversity Narratives

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Underlife: Peer Socialization Agents' Resistance to Higher Education Diversity Narratives

Lindsay Jarratt, Charles R. Martin-Stanley, Jodi L. Linley, Amanda L. Mollet, DaVida L. Anderson and Milad Mohebali

Journal of diversity in higher education, Vol.17(3), pp.430-442

06/2024

DOI: 10.1037/dhe0000431

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Abstract

Drawing on interviews with 70 college peer socialization agents (PSAs) across 42 U.S .-based institutions of higher education, this study explores how PSAs create "underlives" (Coffman, 1961) in response to their roles and expectations for communicating institutional messages about diversity. Findings from this study illuminate the ways in which institutional scripts produce tension for the PSAs who enact them and the symbolic, behavioral, and discursive ways in which PSAs use distancing strategies to resist. Most of these public-facing students employed contained strategies to preserve an underlife away from the surveillance and pressures of the institution. However, some students-especially Students of Color and those from other marginalized groups-also sometimes utilized more disruptive forms of underlife, using resistance to attempt systemic change. We illustrate these strategies by presenting two narrative vignettes of participants' experiences that explore and develop the roles of identity, relationships, environment, and expectations in influencing PSAs strategic decisions.

Psychology

Social Sciences

Education & Educational Research

Psychology, Educational

Psychology, Social

Details

Title: Subtitle: Underlife: Peer Socialization Agents' Resistance to Higher Education Diversity Narratives
Creators: Lindsay Jarratt - University of Iowa
Charles R. Martin-Stanley - Sisters of Mercy Health System
Jodi L. Linley - University of Iowa
Amanda L. Mollet - University of Kansas
DaVida L. Anderson - Carroll Community Coll Off Student Care & Integr, Westminster, MD USA
Milad Mohebali - University of Iowa
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of diversity in higher education, Vol.17(3), pp.430-442
DOI: 10.1037/dhe0000431
ISSN: 1938-8926
eISSN: 1938-8934
Publisher: Educational Publishing Foundation-American Psychological Assoc
Number of pages: 14
Language: English
Electronic publication date: 07/18/2022
Date published: 06/2024
Academic Unit: Sociology and Criminology; Educational Policy and Leadership Studies
Record Identifier: 9984371283502771

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