Social Capital and the Equity Compass. A talk by Louise Archer, Professor of Sociology of Education, Hanaholmen

Professor Archer from UCL ASPIRES presents a sociological thesis, proposing that the decision to choose Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) for a career, is determined and suppressed by social factors. Science, on the other hand, show that these kinds of decisions are determined by intra-family biological factors . 2 pages.

Please support the blog via Swish (Sweden) or MobilePay (Finland).

"I don't subscribe to the notion that gender is biological" (Louise Archer).

On her zoom-visit to Hanaholmen in Esbo, Dr Archer proposes a concept called 'science capital' which is defined as:

the sum of all the science-related knowledge, attitudes, experiences and resources that an individual builds up through their life. This includes what science they know about, what they think about science, the people they know who have an understanding of science, and the day-to-day engagement they have with science

According to Dr Archer, science capital can be used to help understanding how social class affects people's aspirations and involvement in science" (Wikipedia).

The concept comes from research in education but is also used more broadly in practice and policy, for instance in the work of the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons in the UK",

and is based on a theoretical frameworks created by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, and the concepts science-related habitus and capital.

Dr Archer didn't present any counter arguments, like Stoet and Geary (2018) who show that these kinds of decisions are determined by biological gender.

The scientific question: is it even possible to validate Dr Archers sociological-based propositon using scientific method?

Read: Unconscious Bias, Seminar at Viikki Campus: Are we biased against biases because of Groupthink?

Please support the blog via Swish (Sweden) or MobilePay (Finland).

Mer om min expertis:

Executive coaching for CEOs/managers and workshops to facilitate Organizational Performance, Learning, and Creativity for Problem Solving | Lectures: Nutrition for physical and mental health | Course/lecture: children's emotional and social adjustment and cognitive development | Language training - Swedish | Academy Competency | CV | Teaching skills and experience | Summary of research project | Instagram | Linkedin | YouTube-channel | TikTok | Twitter