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Access Type

WSU Access

Date of Award

January 2022

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

David M. Merolla

Abstract

This research seeks to answer the question of why sociologists teach at community colleges, how they view their choices and how they view the discipline of sociology. I theorize that contrary to community college teaching being a “fall back” position, many sociologists actively seek those positions deliberately to enact social justice through their teaching of marginalized student populations. Specifically, I theorize that community college sociologists teach at community colleges purposefully to empower marginalized students to understand their place in the social world in order for the students to better navigate within that world and push back against that world. I theorize that many community college sociologists, in addition to teaching sociological concepts, help students understand soft skills needed for college and life success as a form of cultural capital activation/or transmission. In this study, I claim the “Hidden Curriculum” moniker as a social justice concept utilized by community college sociologists. I find that community college sociologists feel marginalized in their profession, work at institutions that are marginalized in their importance in our higher education system, and teach those students who have been marginalized by society yet do so, with enthusiasm. I theorize that the “Hidden Curriculum” of community college sociologists is a purposeful effort to teach sociology as a form of empowerment AND to teach students soft skills for success in society in its present form, as a way of enacting social justice to the very students who need it the most.

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