The Social Differentiation of Ability

Bibliographic Data

ID2323661
AuthorsGordon Horobin, David Oldman, Bill Bytheway
Year1967
Volume1
Issue2
Pages113-129
Publication date1967-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0385 • E-ISSN: 1469-8684
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/003803856700100201
OpenAlexW2039116408
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited11

The extent to which social class differences in the measured ability of children change as the children get older is an important educational, sociological and even political question. Using the results of tests taken by Aberdeen school children at ages 7, 9, and 12, it was found that there was no significant increase in the 'class gap in ability' with age, but that there was significant variation in the 'class differentiating power' of the tests used. One of the methods used by Douglas, in The Home and the School, to demonstrate an increasing gap between both social classes and ability streams is shown to be unsound. It is also suggested that the regression effects which invalidate the method may affect differentially the accuracy with which we can predict the later performance of children belonging to the several social classes front their success at a selection examination

Affect (linguistics) · Class (philosophy) · Developmental psychology · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Selection (genetic algorithm) · Social class · Sociology · Variation (astronomy) · Computer Science · Early Childhood Education and Development · Psychology · School Choice and Performance · Social Psychology