Subject to Evaluation How Parents Assess and Mobilize Information from Social Networks in School Choice

A rich literature examines how information spreads through social networks to influence life opportunities. However, receiving information does not guarantee its use in decision making. This article analyzes information evaluation as a fundamental component of social network mobilization. The case o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSociological forum (Randolph, N.J.) Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 158 - 180
Main Author Fong, Kelley
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Wayne Wiley 01.03.2019
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Affinity
choice
Decision making
education
evaluation
Inequality
Information dissemination
Information sources
Life opportunities
Mobilization
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Parents & parenting
Resources
School choice
social class
Social inequality
Social networks
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Summary:A rich literature examines how information spreads through social networks to influence life opportunities. However, receiving information does not guarantee its use in decision making. This article analyzes information evaluation as a fundamental component of social network mobilization. The case of school choice, where the value of information may be more uncertain, brings this evaluative dimension to the forefront. Interviews with 55 parents in Boston show how parents selecting schools assess their social network ties as information sources, privileging information from those they perceive to have affinity and authority. These evaluative criteria map onto disparate networks to engender unequal mobilization of this information. The findings illuminate mechanisms sustaining inequality in social network mobilization and reorient scholars to consider processes underlying information use alongside information diffusion to attain a more complete understanding of how network resources are mobilized in action.
Bibliography:I am grateful to those who provided feedback on this project at earlier stages, including Bart Bonikowski, Allison Daminger, Stefanie DeLuca, Shelley Kimelberg, Devah Pager, Mario Small, and Sandra Susan Smith. All errors and omissions are my own. This research would not have been possible without generous support from the Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program at the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University, and the Boston Area Research Initiative.
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0884-8971
1573-7861
DOI:10.1111/socf.12483