Education, Jobs, and Inequality
Functional and Conflict Models of Social Stratification in the United States
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2484019 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gregory D Squires (Michigan State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1977 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 436-450 |
| Publication date | 1977-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Problems (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0037-7791 • E-ISSN: 1533-8533 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/800137 |
| OpenAlex | W2015014083 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 34 |
This study examines two competing interpretations of the relation between formal education and the occupational structure, and the dynamics of social stratification in the United States. The techno-democratic model points to the rising requirements of technical skill for jobs and the pursuit of greater economic equality to explain the expansion of formal education. The class conflict model maintains that formal education has expanded in order to maintain the stability of work organizations and the class structure by imparting noncognitive characteristics encouraging existing social relationships. The findings suggest that: (1) The expansion of education cannot be explained by changing technical skill requirements of work. (2) While inequality in educational attainment has been reduced for the population as a whole and between whites and nonwhites, this has not led to a reduction of economic inequality. (3) The noncognitive attributes inculcated by schooling are rewarded in the occupational structure; this reflects employers' concern for social control within organizations. The major implication of this study is that the relationship between education, jobs, and social inequality can be better understood in terms of class structure rather than assumed differences in the characteristics (marginal productivity) of individuals who interact within the constraints of that structure. If a reduction of economic inequality is a policy objective, the focus of social policy should be on the structural determinants of inequality rather than on the education, training, or some other characteristic of individuals
Biology · Demographic economics · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Educational attainment · Inequality · Political science · Social class · Social inequality · Social science · Social stratification · Sociology · Stratification (seeds) · Structural inequality · Employment and Welfare Studies · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Mathematics · School Choice and Performance
Education and the rise of the corporate state
Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations
What Do Bosses Do?
Schooling in capitalist America
Education and jobs
Labor and Monopoly Capital
Social Mobility in Industrial Society
The Effect of Education on the Earnings of Blacks and Whites
Pygmalion in the classroom
The transformation of the school
Education, Income, and Ability
The Organization of Academic Work
The American occupational structure
Functional and Conflict Theories of Educational Stratification
Historical Statistics of the United States
To the Insurgent Sociologist
The Occupational Structure and Education
Where are Educational Requirements for Employment Highest
The Social Relations of Production in The Firm and Labor Market Structure
The Long Shadow of Work
Social Class, Parental Encouragement, and Educational Aspirations
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,09 |
| Citation span | 1981 - 2008 (28) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |