SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND SELF IN STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC EXPERIENCES

Abstract

Education is recognized as the most important route to social mobility. Quality education is associated with promises of occupational success and economic prosperity and a better life. It is this hope for a better future that guides innumerable parents from lower social class backgrounds in India to try and secure a place for their children in private schools- institutions that hold the promise of good quality. This study (consisting of two parts) was designed to explore the impact of social structure on the experience of exclusion at school, self-esteem, academic effi cacy, and engagement of students using self-report measures. For the purpose of the study, the social structural variables of class and caste (caste is an integral component of Indian society’s social structure) were examined. For the study with social class, the sample included EWS students (n=) and non-EWS students (n=). For the study with caste, the sample included students from the reserved category (including students from scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward classes; n=) and general category students (n=). School exclusion and self-esteem emerged as signifi cant processes that mediate the relation between social structural variables of class and caste and student outcomes. The study has implications for creating more inclusive classrooms.