Extra colloquium - January 25 - Daniel Alexandrov (St. Petersburg)

January 25, 2012, 12:30-14:00 (M.0055):
Daniel Alexandrov (Higher School of Economics – St. Petersburg): School Differentiation, Networks, and Anti-School Attitudes

In the talk we will present some preliminary results of our large ongoing project on ethnicity, segregation and social networks in Russian schools. The presentation will cover institutional context (school structure etc.), the effects of socio-economic and ethnic segregation in Russian urban educational system, and the analysis of school network data from our school survey in St. Petersburg (104 schools, 419 classes, 7300 students). One of our main research foci is on school integration of minority students and the role of motivation and pro-school attitudes in school achievement. Researchers have argued that racial/ethnic /class gaps in educational achievement are often due to peer pressure effects and the emergence of particular ‘anti-school culture’ of working class and/or minority students in schools. Much of previous research on differentiation-polarization was focused on individual and school level, while we look at the emergence and persistence of anti-school culture in students' small crowds (cliques) rather than on school level. We identify cliques in class networks and use them as a level of analysis anti-school attitudes along with individual and schools. We will conclude by discussing future research questions: dynamic analysis of anti-school clique formation and polarization in school networks and modeling between-school ethnic segregation through school choice.

Daniel Alexandrov is a Professor at the State University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia. This presentation is a co-production with Valieria Ivaniushina.