Canon (especially ethnographic) works in sociology of higher education?

I'm getting ready to settle in with my advisor's book Ethnic Identity and Power: Cultural Contexts of Political Action in School and Society. 

I'm actually taking a Sociology of Education class right now. I'm not sure how much "thick description" is in our readings for the rest of the semester (we're actually reading the book you mentioned for next week).

These are the books we're reading this semester (not including articles):

(1) Carter, Prudence. 2005. Keepin’ it Real: School Success Beyond Black and White. New York: Oxford University Press.

(2) Hedges, Larry V. & Schneider, Barbara, eds. 2005. The Social Organization of Schooling. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

(3) Lareau, Annette. 2000. Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education (New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.)

(4) Minow, Martha, Shweder, Richard A. and Markus, Hazel, eds. 2008. Just Schools: Pursuing Equality in Societies of Difference. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

(5) Mirón, Luís P. & St. John, Edward. 2003. Reinterpreting Urban School Reform. New York: SUNY Albany

(6) Oakes, Jeannie. 2005. Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality (New Haven: Yale University Press).

(7) Pascoe, C. J. 2007. Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press.

(8) Stevens, Mitchell. L. 2009. Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Hi Brian,

Unfortunately there are rather few true ethnographies of higher education. Besides Stevens' book, I can also highly recommend Michael Moffatt's Coming of Age in New Jersey, which is really the classic ethnography of college life. More recently, Rebekah Nathan has written My Freshman Year, which compliments and updates Moffatt's book well.

More common are interview-based studies, which, though not strictly ethnographic, do provide a bit more in-depth detail than the numerous statistical, survey-based studies. Of these, the most notable are:

Susan Blum, My Word! Plagiarism and College Culture

Mary Grigsby, College Life Through the Eyes of Students

Michele Lamont, How Professors Think

Dorthy Holland and Margaret Eisenhart, Educated in Romance: Woman, Achievement, and College Culture

Kathleen Bogle, Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus

Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, Campus Life: Undergraduate Cultures from the end of the Eighteenth Century to the Present

Richard Light, Getting the Most out of College

Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do

Also look out for a forthcoming book by Elizabeth Armstrong (Michigan) and Laura Hamilton on gender and the reproduction of social class in higher education.