The Relational Status Game of an Educational Expedition Group

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18666/JOREL-2023-11776

Keywords:

group dynamic, social status, social justice, case study, outdoor education

Abstract

Group status hierarchies can affect individuals’ experiences (e.g., sense of belonging) and the group’s outcomes (e.g., cohesion) in group-based outdoor adventure education programs. The study aimed to explore how specific interpersonal status processes, which we also call the “relational status game,” within an expedition group, affect inclusion and exclusion dynamics. Drawing on ethnographic data and a Bourdieusian sociological framework, we explore how members of an educational expedition group used their interpersonal relations and engaged in specific social interactions to maintain or improve their status. Six relational strategies that led to either social exclusion or social inclusion were identified. Relational strategies are interpersonal relations and interactions between group members that depend on one another’s “objective” positions in the group and whose nature (positive or negative) can provide social status benefits for at least one member. Outdoor educators could build on those findings to raise groups’ awareness about this issue in order to foster inclusive group dynamics.

Author Biography

Lorie Ouellet, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi

Lorie Ouellet is professor at the Outdoor Leadership Teaching Unit at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi since 2011. Moreover, she is a researcher at the Laboratoire d’expertise et de recherche en plein air (LERPA) [Outdoor Expertise and Research Laboratory]. Her teaching activities mainly take place in expedition settings involving various technical disciplines such as cross-country skiing, hiking and whitewater canoeing as well as outdoor leadership. Her research focuses on social gender relations in outdoor education.

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Published

2023-03-13

Issue

Section

Regular Papers