Individual Choice And Unequal Participation In Higher Education
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Education
Theory and Research in
DOI: 10.1177/1477878507073617
Theory and Research in Education 2007; 5; 87
Kristin Voigt
Individual choice and unequal participation in higher education
http://tre.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/5/1/87
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T.R .E
Theory and Research in Education
Copyright © 2007, sage publications, www.sagepublications.com
vol 5(1) 87–112 ISSN 1477-8785 DOI: 10.1177/1477878507073617
Individual choice and unequal
participation in higher education
kri st i n voigt
Department of Politics and International Relations,
University of Oxford, UK
ab strac t
Does the unequal participation of non-traditional students in higher education
indicate social injustice, even if it can be traced back to individuals’ choices?
Drawing on luck egalitarian approaches, this article suggests that an answer to this
question must take into account the effects of unequal brute luck on educational
choices. I use a framework based on expected utility theory to analyse qualitative
studies on educational choice.This reveals a variety of mechanisms through which
differences in background conditions make non-traditional students less likely to
apply to university and/or particular institutions; the unequal participation of nontraditional
students in higher education remains a problem of social justice.
keywords choice, egalitarianism, equality, higher education
1 introduct ion
It is...
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