Social Representations of Higher Education of Students from Families with Different Socio-Economic Status

Objective of the study was to identify the structure and content of the social representations of higher education of students from families with different socio-economic status. Background. The higher education is the most important area of human life. It's connected not only with the wellbeing and social success, but also with the social inequality. The family's socio-economic status is one of the factors of such inequality in access to the higher education. The social representations of higher education' specificity studying is a resource for understanding the differences in the assessment of its value, goals and results by students from families with different socio-economic status. Study design. The research is based on the structural approach of the theory of social representations. Three steps were carried out: (a) the students families' socio-economic status was determined; (b) the structure of social representations of higher education of students from families of each status category was revealed; (c) students evaluated the significance and valence of the structure of social representations' elements. Participants. The total sample size was 332 students (average age of 21.7): of which 112 were secondary school students (average age of 16.6), 105 were undergraduate students (average age of 20) and 115 were master students (average age of 28.3). Measurements. The methodology of P. Verges for the analysis the social representations was used. Respondents were asked to evaluate associations in accordance with their perceived significance and emotional attitude (valence). The questionnaire was used to determine the respondents' socio-economic status. Results. The structure of social representations of higher education of students from families with different socio-economic status was identified and described. The differences in the content of social representations of higher education were found. Conclusions. The cores of social representations of higher education differ according to the number of elements and in their content characteristics for students from families with different socio-economic status. It's revealed differences in the significance and emotional rating of representations' core elements.