Abstracts
Abstract
Conventional scholarship within the sociology of education and organizations posits that schools achieve legitimacy by virtue of conforming to normative standards, abiding by government regulations and mimicking the forms of successful peers. Through this study, an examination of a sample of 751 Canadian for-profit colleges (FPCs) is performed, revealing the presence of an alternative logic. Rather than conformity, organizations within this sector engage in niche-seeking behaviour, using promotional materials to carve out unconventional identities. They do so by directly drawing on symbolic resources and affiliations from the industrial sectors which they service. These findings are interpreted through the prism of contemporary theorizing within organizational sociology.
Résumé
La recherche conventionnelle dans la sociologie de l’éducation et celle des organisations postule que les écoles acquièrent une légitimité en se conformant aux standards normatifs, en suivants les règlements gouvernementaux et en imitant les méthodes de leur pairs réussies. Dans le cadre de cette étude, j’examine le matériel promotionnel d’un prélèvement de 751 collèges canadiens à but non lucratif (FPC: Canadian for-profit colleges) qui fonctionnent selon une méthode divergente. Plutôt de se conformer à un standard fixe, les organisations dans ce secteur s’engagent dans la recherche pour localiser des champs « niche » en utilisant du matériel promotionnel pour démarquer des identités non conventionnelles. Ils le font en s’appuyant sur des ressources symboliques et des affiliations des secteurs industriels qu’ils servent. J’interprète ces résultats à travers le prisme de théorie contemporaine dans le cadre de la sociologie organisationnelle.
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