A review of “school caste” and its relation to peer relationships

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to compare previous research with “school caste,” which is the phenomenon of status hierarchy between informal groups among Japanese classrooms, and to discuss the direction and perspective of research on school caste. In the current study, we reviewed studies on sociometric popularity, perceived popularity, and peer crowds as research knowledge on children’s social status in schools. We then reviewed literature reports on school caste and discussed how school caste would be positioned as studies on social status among schools. After indicating the problems of promoting research on school caste, we discussed the future direction of research. Finally, we discussed the implications and directions of future empirical studies on school caste or interpeer group status, based on the aforementioned review.