Peer influence and academic performance among primary school pupils

Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem

Szociológia és Kommunikációtudomány Doktori Iskola

Takács Károly

szociológiai tudományok

In schools, negative relations related to status competition are largely responsible for situations in which low performance is enforced. If general norms support high efforts, a dense group without major division lines ostracizes those who do not comply. Negativity that is manifested as punishment of low performers has a positive impact on performance. A more disturbing example is when intensified competition leads to social exclusion of the best performing students and paradoxically lowers overall performance. In certain classrooms, similar to workplace environments, status can be attained by low performance and by advocating norms of performance lowering. If the large majority supports medium or low effort work, then best performers are likely to be punished and will be subjects of punishment. Strikingly, social exclusion of best performers is observable also in the best schools. In the latter case, if academic standards are shifted upwards, then social exclusion of best performers (geeks) could paradoxically be more likely. If standards of evaluation are linked to past performance, high performance poses a threat to the entire group, hardening to achieve the same grades due to higher standards.
Moreover, status orders do not necessarily reflect on academic achievement. Among others, status could be based on attractiveness, wealth, and sociability. If high status individuals tend to be low-performers, status competition could reward norms of low performance. Furthermore, stable sub-groups can maintain inefficient norms that limit achievement despite the presence of another sub-group in which achievement is approved. Therefore, it is of high importance which network topologies can contribute best to higher performance. We will analyze these structural conditions considering negative and positive relations in the school context.
Recommended readings:
Altermatt, E. R., & Pomerantz, E. M. (2005). The Implications of Having High-achieving versus Low-achieving Friends: A Longitudinal Analysis. Social Development, 14(1), 61-81
Davies, M., & Kandel, D. B. (1981). Parental and Peer Influences on Adolescents’ Educational Plans: Some Further Evidence. American Journal of Sociology 87 (2): 363-387.
Flashman, J. (2012). Academic Achievement and Its Impact on Friend Dynamics. Sociology of Education, 85(1), 61-80.
The candidate should participate in registering and analyzing our network panel data in Hungarian primary school classes. The ideal candidate has good skills in advanced statistics and at least a basic knowledge of social network analysis.

2 fő

Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem

2013-05-30