Buying into the Meritocracy: Taiwanese Students and the Market for College Admissions Services

Autor/inn/en	Chen, Kenneth Han; Berman, Elizabeth Popp
Titel	Buying into the Meritocracy: Taiwanese Students and the Market for College Admissions Services
Quelle	In: Sociology of Education, 95 (2022) 1, S.23-42 (20 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Chen, Kenneth Han) ORCID (Berman, Elizabeth Popp)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0038-0407
DOI	10.1177/00380407211055517
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; College Admission; Admission Criteria; Academic Ability; Moral Values; Student Attitudes; Foreign Students; Study Abroad; Ethics; Social Stratification; Economic Factors; Socioeconomic Status; English (Second Language); Language Fluency; Cultural Capital; Competition; Consultants; Fees; Second Language Instruction; Colleges; Reputation; Social Bias; College Students; College Applicants; Taiwan + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Hochschulzugang; Hochschulzulassung; Zulassung; Admission; Admission procedures; Zulassungsbedingung; Zulassungsverfahren; Moral value; Ethischer Wert; Schülerverhalten; Studies abroad; Auslandsstudium; Ethik; Soziale Zusammensetzung; Ökonomischer Faktor; Socio-economic status; Sozioökonomischer Status; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Wettkampf; Consultant; Berater; Gebühren; Studiengebühren; Fremdsprachenunterricht; College; Hochschule; Fachhochschule; Collegestudent; College applications; Studienbewerber
Abstract	The meritocratic ideal prescribes that universities should admit students based on academic ability and individual effort. Yet as competition for scarce slots has increased, markets for services to improve the odds of admission have expanded. We use the case of a popular online forum for elite Taiwanese students seeking graduate study in the United States to argue that the moral values assigned to such markets provide useful information about the status of the meritocratic ideal. Using digital ethnography and interviews with forum participants, we find that individuals moralize markets for admissions services in ways that align with their social position. They valorize participation in markets that compensate for their "unfair" disadvantage around English while rejecting the legitimacy of adjacent markets that compensate for lack of cultural capital (which they possess). More generally, we argue that although individuals who benefit from meritocracy will tend to stigmatize associated markets, the positive moralization of such markets can reflect local contests over how meritocracy should be defined--yet not necessarily undermine the meritocratic ideal. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2022/4/11