Public Narratives and Postsecondary Pursuits: An Examination of Gender, Rurality, and College Choice

Abstract

There remains a need in education scholarship to understand how social processes act across levels to influence one another, drive cultural norms, and direct students’ postsecondary pursuits, with careful consideration of students’ held identities and the communities in which they are embedded. Utilizing narrative constitution of identity and the ecological systems model, this study uses qualitative data to illustrate some of the social forces that create and sustain cisgendered public narratives about education and careers in rural communities. Implications for future research on public narratives in rural communities and practical recommendations for combatting these public narratives; sharing counternarratives; and creating new, more inclusive public narratives are discussed.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ We recognize gender is a fluid social construct separate from biological sex. As such, it is important to note that this article focuses on those who identify as cisgender women and men: when the term “gender” is used in this article, it is referring to the gender binary, including cisgender women and cisgender men.

² We recognize the original introduction of Bronfenbrenner’s theoretical framework in 1977 and the subsequent revisions in 1979 and 1992. For this article, we focus on the most updated version, and thus only cite the 1992 version in the remainder of the article.

³ It is worth noting that the narrative identity approach—an ontological approach—should not be confused with the narrative methodological approach.

⁴ We utilize allied health to encompass those careers that fall outside of the traditional healthcare professions of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and dentists, such as radiologists, physical therapists, and dental hygienists.