Abstract:

The time that Harvard students spend abroad is not particularly well understood. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s reproduction theory as a starting framework, this project explores the extent to which study abroad perpetuates inequality by understanding the motivations that students have for studying abroad, the experiences that they have while abroad, the benefits they accrue from their abroad experiences, and the ways that all three of these aspects of the study abroad apparatus differ between first-generation college students at Harvard and Harvard students at large. Using publicly-available written evaluations of study abroad experiences, I captured the experiences and benefits that Harvard students, generally speaking, articulate as having gained from their study abroad experiences. Additionally, through seven semi-structured interviews, I learned about the motivations for, experiences of, and benefits to studying abroad as articulated by Harvard students who are the first in their families to attend a four-year university. Ultimately, among Harvard students generally, and even more so among first-generation students, the emergent patterns do not substantiate the hypothesis of Study Abroad as a tool primarily of class reproduction, as understood by students themselves. Ultimately, further inquiry should be dedicated to understanding a greater array of Harvard subgroups and/or the function of study abroad at other institutions.

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