Quantifying Bourdieu in Educational Research

This book revolves around the rationale, urgency, and application of quantifying Bourdieu in educational research. It begins with a succinct revisit to Bourdieu’s methodological pluralism and quantitative program, and a critical review of existing but limited Bourdieusian quantitative educational studies, establishing the theoretical, methodological, and contextual foundations for empirical applications of quantitative methodology in Bourdieusian educational research. The book then presents three examples of such empirical applications as individual chapters, utilising multiple correspondence analysis and social network analysis. These chapters respectively examine social class and educational mobility, teacher resilience and teacher education, and social grouping and social change. The book concludes with a proposal to mobilise a range of 'relational' quantitative methodologies – including factor analysis, cluster analysis, logistic regression, multilevel modelling, and cross-lagged panel model – within a Bourdieusian remit, and extends a reflexive invitation to quantify Bourdieu in educational research.

Guanglun Michael Mu is a sociologist of education with expertise in Bourdieu's sociology and quantitative methodology. Michael is a prolific writer with over 100 scholarly publications, including 11 books. Michael's work grapples with building resilience in (im)migration and multicultural contexts and international student mobility in volatile pollical contexts.