Summary Social Inequality Week 2: Occupational and Educational Inequality

Social Inequality Week 2: Occupational and Educational Inequality


Social Inequality
– Week 2: Occupational and Educational Inequality –

Content

Status Attainment Model (O-E-D Triangle) .............................................................................. 2

Occupational Inequality ............................................................................................................. 2

Social Origin → Social Destination (total effect) .................................................................. 2

Trend from ascription (birth/social origin) to achievement (education/knowledge;
meritocracy) ....................................................................................................................... 2

Education is two-faced (Origin → Education → Destination) .............................................. 4

Social Origin → Social Destination (direct effect) ................................................................ 5

Educational Attainment → Social Destination (direct effect) ............................................... 6

Human capital theory ......................................................................................................... 6

Job queue theory ................................................................................................................ 7

Job Mismatches .................................................................................................................. 7

Youth unemployment; NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) ................... 8

Educational Inequality ............................................................................................................. 10

Primary and Secondary Effects ............................................................................................ 10

Cultural Reproduction Theory ............................................................................................. 11

Relative Risk Aversion Mechanism..................................................................................... 12

Institutional Characteristics ................................................................................................. 13

School characteristics....................................................................................................... 13

Other characteristics......................................................................................................... 14




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, Social Inequality Week 2: Occupational and Educational Inequality


Status Attainment Model (O-E-D Triangle)




Indicators of occupational success
- Employment
- Occupational status
- Social class
- Prestige
- Income
- Permanent contract
- Working hours?

Occupational Inequality

Social Origin → Social Destination (total effect)




The total effect is mediated by education
Which type of inequality? inequality of opportunities
Inequality in what? occupational success
Between whom? different social origins
Where? mostly in NL, some country comparisons
When? mostly birth cohort trends (starting from 1950 till 1990), some period trends.

Trend from ascription (birth/social origin) to achievement
(education/knowledge; meritocracy)
Meritocracy: inequality between talented and motivated versus untalented and unmotivated
Economic modernization (industrialization)
Cultural modernization (individualization)
- Social Origin matters less
Social origin still matters even when the effect of social origin is controlled for educational
attainment


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