Digest No. 01 - November 2016
Connecting in Class? College Class Size and Inequality in Academic Social Capital
Irenee R. Beattie and Megan Thiele ask an important question: Does class size affect the academic interactions of students of color and first-generation students? They posit that larger classes hinder student interactions focused on academic and career matters with professors and peers. Beattie and Thiele view such interactions as forms of academic social capital. Social capital constitutes a resource that individuals acquire through their interactions and relationships with other individuals within one’s social network.